Going down to my hometown Friday(written last weekend), I got sleepy, so I didn't pay much attention until we were about ten miles out of town, when I woke up. Sunday, coming back, I saw the official speed limit and I could not believe what I was seeing. All I can figure is they set it up that low as a speed trap because it is a poor shitty town and that is one of the few ways they can add money, by fining speeders.
I am sure that leaving Crystal City, the speed limit changed to 70. Ahh, like being in the big city. Somewhere about 10-20 miles from Dilley though, the speed limit changed back to 60. It was 55 back in the 80's. In almost 40 years, best you geniuses can do is increase the speed limit 5 miles per hour? My truck flies at 80 miles per hour on the highway, why would it be better to go that slow? There is a big prison on that road, is it in case we see a prisoner, he can run and jump in the back of a moving truck. 60 feels like we are crawling. It is really painful when you have been cruising at 70-75, and then have to slow down that much.
A truck had passed me, it came out of nowhere, accelerated past me, and I said good, he'll keep moving along faster than me, but after a while, I noticed he was just kind of coasting in front of me. I got pissed and passed him. This is when I noticed the slow speed limit. Now I was having to slow down and I understood why the dude had not kept going full speed ahead. I tried giving him the lane to pass me, but they are in the process of re-paving the road and it was an ugly drop-off from the newer thicker asphalt to the lower older material on the shoulder.
Up here in Austin I don't really worry about what speed I am going, even coming in Sunday night, I was cruising along at 80, when we saw a cop car parked on the side of the freeway. I thought "shit! shit! shit!", but he did not move, maybe it was just a decoy car. This was very different from our experience in Crystal City sometime a year ago. Wife was driving and as soon as we entered the city limits, she was pulled over by a city cop. Wife was maybe going 35 in a 30, and the cop mentioned something like that. He looked us over and just gave us a warning. My mom said they had started hiring cops from out of town and they were very aggressive. They were stopping everybody all the time for any minor reason, I guess if they saw something worthwhile, like a little alcohol or drugs, then they'd really get excited.
It really bugs me when there are places where the speed limit is 75, and we can haul ass, like on I-37, going to Corpus Christi, even in Wife's VW bug, I've gone as fast as 90 and the car handles it well. My truck and even the Excursion have all seen 90 on the highway, cars are made much better than they were 30 years ago. The people in charge need to give up on the notion of making an extra buck this way. What has now happened is that I will no longer go down to Dilley heading to Crystal City. I will take the alternate way which goes through La Pryor. The road is newer, was already completely repaved, and leads to the same place. It is a little more isolated for a little while longer, but again, these newer vehicles hardly ever break down.
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