Driving, Missed Crazy

I was perusing the post of ABW's Friend. She addressed some interesting points on driving in this country.

An 80 mph speed limit in West Texas, coming out of El Paso, was a welcome surprise. I-10 is a major highway but it is not well traveled, at least I did not see many cars when I was there. Of course, the few I did see felt they could go faster than the posted speed anyway. Like ABW's Friend, I just seem to be sitting still when people pass me, even though I am doing, in this case, 80.

ABW's Friend has to pump her own gas up north. We ran into the same problem in Oregon. When we asked why they had to do it, there was no real answer. One attendant told us it was to make sure there was no gas spilled into the environment. We watched as he stared into space and ran the tank over, spilling gas onto the ground.

Speaking of gas, I am well aware the price is rising but have you noticed how much of the price is TAX? Check it out some time.

One of my pet peeves when I am driving is changing speed limits. ABW's Friend says they have signs that can change the speed limit as desired. That is really far out. We only have stationery posted speed limit signs that change from 35mph to 65 mph to 45 mph to ????? Sometimes these changes occur within a few feet of each other. I don't even have time to reach 65 mph before I see the 35. Sometimes they are posted in a row so all are visible at the same time. Is this a conspiracy?

Speaking of conspiracies, how about the small town PDs that lower speed limits dramatically on lonely stretches of highways through their towns so they can make their money on the tickets. I was caught in one of those "scams" and received a ticket that advised me it would not be reported if I just paid the ticket by the due date. I made sure the check was made out to the PD, but wondered if it went into a "pool" to pay off the officers. But I was guilty of cresting the hill and heading down at 7 mph over the limit.

Last, but not necessarily least, why do we have to pay tolls on some stretches of Interstate Highways? This seems like a double whammy - paying for something we have already financed.

In spite of everything, I am one of those independent Texans who keeps driving.