[Jeff Higgins]

Be nice to those guys and gals. Most are great people, doing a crappy job that most of the rest of us would never want anything to do with.

Last guy who pulled me over, a motor cop going the other way when I was on my Ducati, wrote me for 52 in a 35. Sounds bad, but this was on a very, very lonely country road with no driveways, cross streets, schools, monasteries, playgrounds, nothing. Not a single vehicle went by the whole time he had me on the side of the road. Did I say "lonely"?

We wound up b.s.'ing about motorcycles, his kids just starting out learning to ride, my kids who (thankfully) never showed any interest, etc. He asked me about my old Ducati, I asked him how he liked sitting on a BMW all day (he really liked the bike), and on and on. He finally said "I gotta go". I reached out, shook his hand, and thanked him for being out there for us.

When I got home I emailed a copy of the ticket to my traffic attorney (along with payment) and never heard another peep. I still see the guy hiding on the side of the road every now and then, so I wave. He waves back.