Don'cha Know?

Don'cha know I got a ticket for real this time? Heading down Hwy 94, toward Bismarck, these new speed limit signs emerged. "We can go 75mph now!" So we got moving and I started telling Niece about how I took off for Albany, NY when I was her age to escape Texas and see all 50 states (my first round). Here's how I got set up:

I drove a U-Haul with Elliott, my cat, and went straight to University at Albany to see if I could find an apartment. Sure enough I met a girl and we paired up. She was fascinated by my independence (and all my stuff). To get the apartment, I had to have a job, which I didn't. So I kind of convinced the landlord that I was getting a job at The Bagel Baron down the street. Got the apartment, now I had to get the job. The next morning, I walked down there and it was like no place I'd ever been -- was it a kosher deli? But the owner was surely Italian? Walking up to the deli case full of meat (how many types of pastrami can there be?) I asked these big guys in aprons if they were hiring. First they wanted to know where I was from. (The cowboy boots, cut-off shorts and tie-dye t-shirt gave them a clue I wasn't from around there.) Then they said that they only hired people who sang. So, I belted out the first song I could think of, The Ship Titanic, to the amazement of all standing in line for the restaurant and deli case. Ha ha! I'm so funny. Ha! Ha! Niece and I were laughing away until I looked up to see a flashing rainbow in my rear-view mirror!!!

North Dakota trooper #2 had apparently been trying to get my attention for the past 3 miles. Whoops. He, too, was extremely pleasant even as he delivered the news that I was going 26 miles over the speed limit. Somehow I'd ventured into a 60mph zone (I told you N.D. has all these zone switches!) and I was going 86mph. Peanut was imploring me for details on the subject. "Will you get a ticket this time? How fast were you going last time? Just 7 miles over and he gave you a warning? Will this one be nice, too? But you were going a LOT faster this time!" He was exceptionally nice and dropped my speed to 80mph so my ticket was $35 less. This time I asked if I could take a picture of him and he said, "For your blog?" Affirmative. He said he'd already written down the address!

Mr. North Dakota trooper #2, are you reading this? Thanks for being so nice -- I know the ticket was very much deserved.