Page 35 - Been There… Done That!
P. 35
Been There... Done That!
more than five miles an hour. The car started heading off the road and if they had continued it would have gone into the ravine, but fortunately, they woke up just before that happened.
I knew things had to get better because at that point they could not have been any worse. I really didn’t trust anybody else to pull the trailer, so that first trip west I drove all the way, except for just a little while for the 30 hours it took us to get there. One time I made that same drive in 26 hours, but by then I carried three different drivers licenses because the police didn’t have anyway in those days to cross-reference and it was easier to outrun the cops if given a chance.
While driving in Arizona and pulling a trailer, we were stopped by a highway patrolman. After about thirty minutes of finding nothing wrong, he was ready to let us go, but walking past the car, he suddenly turned and said, “You are supposed to have a mirror when towing a trailer. I’m gonna have to give you a ticket.” My response was, “How much is that going to cost?” He said to take it to the next service station and when they install it they will mail in the ticket and it’s done. No fine? Well now it started to get good.
As we pulled into the station, we were greeted by a big man who was eager to help. I noticed the name on his uniform was the same as the trooper’s and I smelled a rat. Thinking I can play that game, I asked how much a mirror cost and he said it would be around sixty dollars. I countered with, “Sir, all we have to get to California is thirty-seven dollars. Is there any way you can help us?” He said,
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