Jeni, Caleb, her parents, and and I all went up to Mammoth Lakes [ski resort about 3 hours away] this weekend for a softball tournament for a local league that Jeni plays in. We [Jeni, Caleb, and I] drove up in the SRT on Friday afternoon and checked into our condo. I slept on the hide-away bed in the living room upstairs. We also had a private hot-tub on the enclosed balcony.
Saturday morning came early as the sun poked my eyes out at about 0630. Showered, ate, and went to the fields where there were some other games already in progress when we got there at about 0800. Softball all day. That evening we all went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant called Gomez’s. I had this huge burrito and a chicken quesadilla. Yum! Afterwards, we went back to the condo for about 45 minutes before Jeni and I headed out to a bar the rest of her team was hitting up. I had 4 beers, and Jeni had a couple Captain and Cokes.
We left at around midnight, walked to the car, pulled out of the parking lot behind a CHP officer. He immediately pulled to the side of the road, and then behind me and flipped his lights on. I pulled over. I was very respectful, addressing the two cops as sir, or officer. I was dressed in a button-up shirt, jeans and no hat. I didn’t look like a punk, nor did I indicate that I would be anything but helpful and respectful. My hands were on the wheel, car was off, keys on the dash, windows down when they tapped the glass. When he asked for my license, I told him it was in my wallet in my back pocket. He said ok, then asked if i’d been drinking. I said “Yes, Sir.”
“Please step out of the car, sir.”
They asked where we were going… I told them condos’ name we were staying at, address, how to get there by street-by-street, and distance.
I kind of started to dig a hole when they started asking about my SRT-4. They said they pulled me over for no front plate and the exhaust was really loud [it is... cat-less, 3" turbo-back]. They said I had no mufflers, and I told them the car didn’t come with any. They denied that. They asked if I was the original owner, I said I was not [I am]. They asked if I had modified it, I said no [I did]. The older of the two said that he didn’t believe me and that they could just run my plates and find out.
I stood at parade rest. The younger one asked where we were coming from [obviously one of the bars in that area] and how much I had to drink. I told the truth, a beer with dinner [told him what I had to eat] and 4 beers at the bar. The younger, nicer one, then proceeded with the drunk tests… 5 of them….. FIVE! Not including the breathalyser.
1. Feet together, look at the finger without moving my head. Even when his finger was way off, I was just fine.. eyes were not shaky, as they usually are with the intoxicated.
2. Feet together, head back, look at officer, close eyes, count thirty seconds in head and tell officer when done. I did, and said “30 seconds” at right about the right time.
3. Lift one foot six inches off the ground and count, “One one-thousand, Two one-thousand, etc…” Got to 23 when a couple people walked by, one of them said, “SRT is hot!”, and I told the cop that that guy could probably confirm that the car did not come with mufflers. They did nothing. I continued to 47.
4. Feet together, head back, look at officer, close eyes, count, “One one-thousand, Two one-thousand, etc…” Got to about 45 when he said ok.
5. Touch thumb to each finger, counting, “1, 2, 3, 4… 4, 3, 2, 1…1, 2, 3, 4, Etc.” I’ve been doing this in passing since I was about 16 so this was no problem.
They then proceeded with the breathalyser. I don’t know what I blew, but I think it was around .04 or .05 because the older officer was pissed that I wasn’t drunk. California legal limit is .08.
The older one then lectured me on the dangers of driving while intoxicated. while I stood at parade rest and looked him directly in the eyes, still being respectful. The younger one handed me my license and told me to drive safe home and have a good night. The older one walked away, commenting to me to get my exhaust “fixed” and to put a plate on the front of the car. And, “Oh, get your tint fixed, too!” My tint is completely legal. Limo on the back three, 5% on the front sides, and limo on the top 6″ of the front. 100% legal.
They really wanted to bust me for DWI. I’m thankful they let me go and didn’t ticket me for the plate of exhaust. They could have made me go to an inspector.
I’m taking this as a sign that it’s finally time to replace my exhaust with a catted dp and maybe a new cat-back with mufflers.
Sunday was nice.. four games, and I also threw the StickyPod on the side of the car and went for a drive. I’ll rip that video later. We left and arrived home at about 8 last night.
Here are some of my favorite pics from the trip. Couple more on flickr.
Recent Comments