The Aerie
Has it been a week since I posted? Sigh.
I wasn't on vacation for a week, although I was on vacation for four
days. It was very instructive. One thing I learned is that in hard
economic times, enforcement picks up in order to bring in additional
income.
In other words, I spent more in traffic tickets than I did on any
other aspect of the trip.
The first one was obtained in [1]Prairie du Chien Wisconsin, a tiny
hamlet near the Mississippi River whose name means "Dog Field", (or,
more generously, "Prairie Dog", but I'm not feeling generous towards
them right now -- I've already been generous there). It was the
standard ticket for having Minnesota plates in a small Wisconsin town.
Travelling through the city they had a half-mile stretch where the
speed dropped from 45 to 35, and then back up to 45 again. I was
travelling with the rest of the traffic when suddenly the lights came
on behind me. Busted. They offered to take my $200 fine right there,
Visa or Mastercard. Or, of course, I could go to prison, presumably
while my family waited in the lobby.
The second one was on my return home. Apparently it had snowed on
Saturday, and by the time we returned home at 4:30 on Sunday my car
had been ticketed under the [2]"Snow Emergency" rules. It was another
$20, and I guess I was lucky that I wasn't towed, a lot of people
were. That would have been another $200.
So we spent $220 on traffic tickets, and about $200 on hotel.
Of course, a few years ago this wouldn't have happened. Oh, I may have
gotten the Wisconsin ticket I suppose: getting a ticket for having
Minnesota plates in Wisconsin is an unavoidable part of life. Well,
unless you avoid Wisconsin, which so many people DO. I had decided to
follow the Mississippi from Minneapolis to Davenport for the scenery
-- the travel-planning websites showed almost no difference in travel
time if you took the scenic route instead of taking 35W straight south
and I80 straight east. And ticket aside, the drive was certainly
pretty. Not $200 worth of pretty, but pretty, and we got to see a
couple of eagles.
But both the speeding ticket and the plowing ticket were due to the
financial crunch everybody's under. Minneapolis, in particular, has
been plowing, salting, and re-plowing the streets after every single
flurry. It's that usual civil- service paradigm: spend the budget, or
next year the budge will be cut. And we CAN'T let our budget be cut,
that just isn't done.
Add to that the incentive of ticketing and towing vehicles, and I was
fortunate to get off with just $20.
What did we DO on the vacation? That will have to wait. My crazy life
continues, and I have to run...
[3]Last
Posted by Albatross at March 13, 2003 12:00 AM