$9000.00..... awesome.....

i heart paying the Texas Department of Transportation. in the past 7 days i've worked 112 hours, and driven close to 2000 miles. i'm so messed up with days right now, but i think this happened on saturday. i'm riding along the highway with a trailer full of stuff that blows up. the weight of this stuff is such that my vehicle requires placards, so i put them on. in this day in age, this is equivalent to putting a bullseye target on my truck for any cop. large orange diamonds with large black letters saying "stuff that blows up" on a white truck and a 40' red trailer. think i stand out?? anyway i'm just cruising along at the speed limit because i know i stand out..... look in my mirror.... mr. policeman is at my back door. i pull over, he starts going through a roadside DOT check. he goes through and checks a list of about 150 things including, but not exclusive to:
hauling papers, pre-trip inspection paperwork, my hourly log book, fire extinguisher, lights, blasting permits, "stuff that blows up" manuals, corporate licenses, tire pressure, brakes, 4 inspection stickers, 3 safety triangles, 2 registrations, and a partirdge in a pear tree. you get the point.
this process took over an hour. generally, if a DOT cop pulls you over, s/he WILL find something wrong. if they can't find something, they make things up. in this case, he found 9 items not in compliance:
2 dangling wires, 4 placards present but not properly placed, driving past the 14th hour after coming on duty that day, a cracked cover for a running light, & a missing inspection sticker for the trailer.

these items compared to the rest of the checklist are BS items. dangling wire?!?!?! but there's no arguing with a DOT cop cuz it's like the judge handing down "contempt of court" for each time you open your mouth.

each DOT violation = $1000.00 x 9 violations = kyle's down payment
i will never again bitch about a $100 speeding ticket.