observed

Some observations about the open road:

The Western part of this country is really big. Really, really big. A four hour flight does not do it justice.

The further east you go, the fewer weigh stations are open, and the more law enforcement you see along the road. They like their weigh stations out west.

The worse the weather, the fewer the law enforcement officers out and about. This is unfortunate, because that's when they seem the most necessary to help all the people. (Although it is a bit odd to pass a sheriff checking for speeders in the middle of nowhere in Mountain State while you are driving 20 miles per hour under the speed limit because of the snow blowing on the road.)

I no longer seem to care whether my total comes out to a round number when I fill my car with fuel.

If the speed limit is higher than 70, I feel no obligation to reach the speed limit. If the speed limit is 70 miles per hour or lower, I feel an obligation to go approximately the speed limit, or within five miles above it, just so as not to impede the speed of traffic. When the speed limit is 80? I will go whatever speed I want, thank you very much. You cannot force me to drive that fast if I don't wanna.

I refuse to adjust my speed just because some police officer/deputy sheriff/state trooper is checking how fast I am going. I refuse even to tap the brakes and give them the satisfaction of knowing that I noticed them. This means that I have to find a way to set my finicky, unreliable cruise control (best done while going uphill, holding a steady speed, it turns out) to the sweet spot in which it never gets to more than 7 miles per hour over the speed limit in its fluctuations. (My speedometer runs about 1-2 mph fast, so I have a little leeway.) I feel like I'm the only person on the road who doesn't automatically hit the brakes when I see a police officer. I've trained it out of myself. And probably I'll end up pulled over anyway, one day, in one of those places where they pull people over for doing 1 mph over the limit. (I hate those places.)