Are You Kidding Me?!

So Brandt and I went home last weekend to visit our families. I left on Friday night to spend time with my family and then he joined me on Saturday after work. As I was driving home it started to rain, then sleet, then snow (have I mentioned how much I LOVE Idaho weather?) I hate driving in this kind of weather, but it wasn't too bad, but our windshield wipers aren't the greatest so I was a little nervous. I slowed down but then cars and semi's kept passing me, making it even more difficult for me to see, so I figured keeping up with traffic was the safer thing to do. I got about 2 miles from my exit and started to fishtail, then spin, then slide off the road. Perfect. Because of the mud and the embankment I couldn't get back on so I had to call my mom to come pull me out. As I was waiting, some nice people stopped, but I sent them on their way since my mom and Bryan were coming to help. Then the policeman stopped. My first thought was, "Oh what a nice policeman. Even with this kind of weather he's going to stop and see if I need help." That was a mistake. Note to self: NEVER trust policemen; they are not my friend.

So the first thing he says even before asking if I was ok was how fast I was going and if I had my seatbelt on. And, being the idiot that I am, I told him that I was going about 50 mph (because I was thinking "he'll be glad to know that in this weather, I was going a reasonable speed). He then proceeds to tell me that I was going too fast and that he needs to inspect my car. So he circles around and finds the dent on the right passenger side. I explained to him that the dent was caused by my mother-in-law running the car into a bush before we even owned the car, and he acted like he didn't believe me and asked me if there was a crash report done on the incident. Why would there be?! She ran into a bush! And it was her own bush and her own car and I don't think the bush cared! So he keeps looking and finds a 4" scratch on the right rear above the tire where I had knocked over a t-post (mind you the post was knocked over and easily put upright again with no damage to it, and I really don't care about the scratch on the car). So he then tells me that because there is proof that I "contacted" another object he now has the "option" to cite me for it. Basically, if I hadn't hit the dang post and was 1 foot further along he would have no power over me.

So he makes me fill out a crash report and sites me for not driving to conditions and fines me $75. Are you kidding me?! For sliding off the road?! I didn't even hurt anyone or anything! If it hadn't been for the embankment I would have driven away and no one would have been the wiser. Needless to say I am ticked about the situation. I have contemplated pleading "not guilty" but I haven't decided for sure. What do you think? However, I have learned some valuable lessons from the experience: 1.) Policemen are NEVER your friend, so don't trust them; 2.) An officer can only site you for a crash if you contact something. So next time throw the dang post across the fence into the farmer's field! and 3.) NEVER tell a policemen how fast you were going (although in this case I don't think it would have made a difference); I've heard that before, but I thought in this case it would prove that I was being a safe driver. It didn't.

So to add to this fun-filled visit, on the drive home Brandt was in the Blazer and I was following in the trusty, persevering Oldsmobile. We got about halfway there when the newest, best tire on the Blazer blows out. In the process of blowing out it reeked havoc on the wheel well. Now isn't that somethin else? We quickly changed the tire and pounded the wheel well back into place and discarded the bits of metal that couldn't be salvaged (Remember valuable lesson #2 from above: get rid of the evidence!) before a policeman had an opportunity to come site us for who knows what. Grrrrr.

p.s. Thank you to my momma and Bryan for coming to save me. I was out of there quicker than you can say "optional citation." Optional? Whatever.