The End of a Great Ride

Guess I was the last rider in.. on this one..

After the rocky start.. we finally got it on the road and
did a good one all the way through San Antonio.. Texas
finest were working the highway real strong west of SA
and of course they never missed the three motorcycles
as they bypassed Pearsall .. Damn.. that eagle eyed
State Trooper nailed us.. Gave all three of us tickets for
five miles over the posted 75 mph limit..

After that little delay while chatting with the Trooper, we
beelined it on down to Laredo and crossed the river.. into
Nuevo Laredo.. Not much time lost in getting the necessary
paperwork to travel in Mexico and then we ran those streets
to the outside of the city.. The highway wasn't much better
but we made good time to Sabenas.. The town was full and
there was no rooms available anywhere.. We finally found a
couple of rooms at the outskirts of town and checked in..

Stroke of luck..

Next morning .. early start and we ran through to the south
side of Saltillo.. While we ate dinner.. the sky blew up on us
and it commenced a hard, cold rain.. We checked into the
rooms early and waited out the rainstorm.. Sure didn't want
a repeat of the trip I made last year.. Those mountains can
get hairy at night and during a heavy storm..

The family in Guadalajara was waiting for us the following day
when we pulled in and of course, food was on the table real
quick.. The next day, we all kind of rested up from our trip
and didn't do very much..

The traffic in Guadalajara is a nightmare.. Too many cars and
the street infrastructure isn't up to speed to accomodate all
the traffic that is there.. Our second day in the city, we toured
out to a small town.. Tapalpa.. It is high in the mountains about
50 miles or so from the city.. neat little place .. sort of a step
back in time.. in my opinion..

The following day .. we toured up to Chapala.. about 45 or 50
miles out.. The lake was spectacular and I spent the time in a
local park while my companions did a lot of walking and looking.

Then it was time for us to commence the long ride home and
we set off .. Through the state of Nayarit and the city of Tepic..
Furthur to the north, we crossed into the state of Sinoloa and
made a beeline for Mazatlan, where we spent the night.. I'd
like to point out here.. no problems with the military checkpoints..
And, besides.. no one had their pistol with them, so we didn't
have anything to worry about anyway..

We checked into a nice hotel on the beachfront and got a well
deserved nights rest.. Next morning we'd hit those mountains
to the east and be heading for Durango.. The ride was superb
and nothing out of the ordinary, except for the beauty of those
mountains and the excellent motorcycle highway.. Gasolene
can be critical in that area and no gas stop should be passed..

That night was spent in Torreon and of course.. we got another
fairly early start to make the long ride to the border.. I have learn-
ed that we ran something like 800 miles on that day.. hmmm
pretty good for an old timer like me..

As hard as we tried, there wasn't any way for us to make it back
to Pearsall to appear on those tickets, so.. I decided to spend
the night there.. Early today.. I talked to the judge who'd be
handling those tickets.. Hopefully, there won't be too much of
a problem in getting them resolved..

That's about it for this ride and I'm sure that more details will
be forthcoming as our crew kinda shares the great memories
with everyone.. Regards

Bill Walker
Irving

 

I'd say 80 in a 75 zone is pretty picky. Were you just
lucky, or is this the norm?

 

I'm of the same opinion, but the Trooper claimed some-
thing about "no tolerance".. He also claimed the probable
cause for the stop was because of loud pipes.. No radar
was involved and he made the speed stop by speedometer.

He was just one of "those".. lol

I wasn't aware of it, at the time.. but, the judge followed me
to the courthouse after a coffee stop.. She was admiring the
Green Vulcan .. said those pipes weren't all that loud .. Told
me to forget that one and we'd work out something to resolve
the speeding tickets.. I'm not sure what all that means, but the
tickets were pretty shaky, since there were three bikers and one
two up who will witness that we weren't speeding.. I don't think
the judge is in much of a mood to try these tickets before a jury,
but who knows.. in a small town like Pearsall, they could go either
way.. Regards

Bill Walker

 

I hate it when companies do that. I did a contract job (or at least I
took a contract job) several years ago. The company paid an advance
and I had to travel to do the work. One thing led to the other and it
was cancelled. I'd spent some of the money in the advance prepping for
the job. The company wanted the full amount back and I tried to
explain that a portion had been spent getting supplies and going to
the airport and such. They wanted to be hard-nosed about it and still
wanted the full amount back. I ended up telling them to suck eggs and
paid them back what I owed them in return with the receipts for every
little item I used the money for. They started screaming about "never
use you again!". I thought that was a good thing...especially since
they didn't have a problem with the term "use".

 

I don't know of any such law in Texas.. That's not to say there isn't one..
The judge that will be hearing or deciding these tickets, seems to be fair..
Maybe the few minutes that I spent with her, will cause her to be dismissive
in her decision.. She definitely indicated that she didn't want to sit in on
a
jury trial with four witnesses who contradicts the Trooper.. Matter of fact,
she stated outright that four against one isn't good odds for getting a con-
viction on the tickets.. We'll just have to play this one out and see what
the
outcome is.. The biggest problem is getting co-ordinated with everyone to
go back to appear.. That's what they are counting on in 99 percent of these
damn things, anyway.. Regards

Bill Walker

 

State Trooper nailed us.. Gave all three of us tickets for
five miles over the posted 75 mph limit.. <<


You have got to be kidding! 5 mph over??? Hell, that's probably within the
margin of error of most speedometers. If it hadn't been the DPS that pulled
you over, I'd say that you were caught in a classic speed trap. He must have
been bored that day.

A few years ago there was a town here in S. Texas named Kendleton that got
nailed by the state for running a speed trap. If my rather poor memory
serves me correctly, that case and several others was the reason a law was
made that requires traffic citation money to be sent to Austin first rather
than straight into local coffers. Kendleton's finest in cahoots with city
officials was using ticket revenue as a financial source to fund serious
corruption. It also turned out that a lot of federal money that was supposed
to go to hire additional police officers and upgrade department equipment
was going straight into the police chief's pockets. The town was sued by the
state (or feds???) and the little burg went bankrupt. As a result the police
department was disbanded. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving town.

Kendleton's fate was one I celebrated since I was one of their customers. I
received a ticket for 3 mph over the limit at 11:00 at night. The local cop
tried every way he could to get me mad and start an argument. It was very
obvious what he was doing. I didn't bite. After the town bit the dust, I
read that one of their favorite tricks was to get folks riled up and then
haul them off to the pokey. At that point, the revenue enhancement /
extortion went into high gear.
__________________________
Mick McHam Houston, TX
'01 ST1100 ABS, STOC# 1134
'00 VFR800FI
http://www.hal-pc.org/~mmcham

 

I read something about that.. hmmm.. don't remember much of the details,
though..
They were running a "speed trap" alright.. They'd made a stop on the other
side of
the freeway .. Looked like they'd pulled over more than one car..

The Trooper that got us, came from that side of the highway and supposedly
clocked
us with his speedometer.. He used loud pipes as probable cause to pull us
over..

Then, he claimed we were speeding.. That dude was determined to write
tickets and
he shined a flashlight in my eyes .. broad daylight.. Said he was trying to
see my corr-
ective lenses.. lol.. I was holding my prescription sunglasses in my hand ..
Brian point-
ed out to him they were corrective lenses ..

I really screwed him up when I told him that he'd conducted himself like a
professional
LEO and thanked him.. not for the ticket .. but for his pro manners.. Told
him that I did-
n't appreciate the ticket.. He didn't know what to say..

The biggest problem is going to be co-ordinating everyone to go back and
appear..
That's mostly what these guys depend on.. easier to just put the check in
the mail..
The judge has already all but dismissed the muffler violation part of my
citation.. She'd
followed me to the courthouse from her coffee shop, which was about two
miles.. She
didn't know that I'd be in her office later.. but, she was talking about the
nice bike that I
was riding.. Being behind me.. I asked her if she had a problem keeping up
with me and
if those loud pipes offended her.. She said "no" to both questions..

Could be a lot of fun in that courtroom..

Regards, Mick

Bill Walker

 

The judge in Pearsall seemed to think the Muffler Violation thing was a joke
in
this case.. That part of the ticket will be dismissed without objection..

Sometimes when I see a patrol car that has the "To protect and serve" deal
painted on it.. I can't help but laugh.. I pointed that out to a policeman
once
and told him, "if I need your help or service, I'll call you".. Of course ..
as to be
expected.. the dude didn't see the humor in my comment.. Ah well..

BTW, Jerry.. How are you doing, healthwise.. Sure hope that last surgery of
yours
is doing the trick for you.. Regards

Bill Walker

 

There ya go again, thinking the Government is here to help you.