First thoughts when looking in the mirror and seeing flashing lights is a
mental run down of what could I have done wrong... Can it be speeding? No 60 mph in a 70 mph speed zone on a 4-lane highway that cannot be it. Was I reaching for the phone? Nope as I was listening to a caller on my head set. I know that he did not miss my orange seatbelts that I have strapped across my chest. The truck is in tiptop condition and looking pretty darn spiffy on this nice Tuesday morning. So this officer in the suburban following me must be the Earth welcoming party.
As I pull over to the shoulder of the road my heart is pounding and I hear Bob in the back asking why I am stopping. He is a little surprised when I reply that Earth's welcoming party wants to speak with me. In reality though I have no clue as I pull over and roll down my passenger window while still wearing my seatbelt and my driving glasses. The officer pulls on the shoulder and then onto the grass beside the truck.
The highway patrol officer informs me this is a safety inspection and could he see my logs. I let him know that we are on electronic logs and he asks to see the Qualcomm and that is when it almost went bad. I was trying to change the Qualcomm to the log page and he said don't touch it I don't want you to change anything. I let him know I had nothing to change and the air was a little tense between us.
Once he looked at the Qualcomm we proceeded on with the inspection. Another officer on a creeper stuck his head under the truck, as that is all that would fit. I was sure wishing at this point that we had our skirts on so that I could see how all of this would play out. We have disc brakes so there really was not much for him to see. Everything was checked lights, windshield wipers, fire extinguisher, triangles, and then he wanted me to bring our permits, licenses and meet him at his car.
What a cool set up he had! He swiped my driver’s license and it read out loud my name and other information on the license. He then proceeded to swipe Bobs card and commented that our birthdays are exactly a month apart and that our driver’s license only have the last digit different. Our license is linked with our medical card so he did not need to see that.
While we were sitting in the car we started talking about the history of Texas and I found out quickly he is a history buff. We had a great time discussing the finer points of Texas and some of things I have seen. He mentioned that taking a tour of the capital is a must see attraction.
Once he placed the sticker on our windshield we shook hands and wished each other a great day. It was with a smile in my heart as I drove away as I knew I had made a new friend and I really enjoyed my interaction with this officer.