On 02-21-19, WARD DOSSCHE said to BOB ACKLEY:

BA> > In 1976 I had a speeding ticket on the interstate at Deer Lodge MT
BA> returning
BA> > from Yellowstone to Missoula MT and i would like to repeat Nixon's
BA> words "I am
BA> > not a crook".  8-)

BA> I thought Montana didn't have a speed limit - or it's something
BA> like 'as fast as conditions allow.

WD>In 1976 the speed-limit on the interstate was was 55mph. I'm not shitting
WD>you ... with the vast distances of Montana you never got where you were
WD>getting if you didn't speed. Even today distances in MT are not determined
WD>in miles, but in "hours of driving" plus the number of pee-stops.

WD>Interstate speed limit for cars now is 85 I think, trucks 70... you still
WD>need hours and hours to get anywhere.


True story:


Back in the late 1970's and 1980's I was working as a long haul trucker.


I had enter Montana and was on my way to pick up a loaded trailer in some
forgotten place. Had an empty trailer at the time and was suppesed to drop the
empty I had and hook onto a loaded one.


Was on some secondary road driving along and approaching a place where I had
to turn left. As I neared the turn I saw a sign that said "Scale Ahead"!


I got to the turn and as I went around the corner I saw a small structure the
size of a single occupant outhouse and a pickup truck in a small dirt area on
the right hand corner. But no `scale'.


After completing the turn I speeded back up to around 65 or so when suddenly
the pickup I'd seen back where I'd turned was coming up behind me flashing
it's headlights and sounding a siren (of all things!). I pulled over and this
old man in some sort of uniform shirt (wearing levis and wornout work boots)
climbs out, walks up the side of the rig and tells me I'd passed the scale
without stopping like I was supposed to.


When I told him I hadn't seen any `scale' he got indignant; `well it's right
there! turn around and follow my back and I'll show you!' A nearby ranch road
allowed room to swing around, so I swung back and followed him. Turns out that
little `outhouse' sized shack was his `office' and he had a one-axle-only
scale set up a truck had to drive up on....wait for the scale to `settle'...
the old man wrote the weight of that axle...singled you to move another axle
onto the scale....


It took almost thirty minutes for the whole procedure.


Luckily I was the only truck....it was a Saturday...and no other trucks ahead
of me!


To my relief...that was the one and only time I was on any secondary roads in
Montana with a semi.

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