I’ll try to shorten this up as much as possible ……So I’m on my way back from Ga. with a load of J.D tractors (2 tractors and a loader/backhoe) drop one tractor in Fredricksburg, VA. Wed. afternoon and make it into southern N.J. where I spend the night. Leave so. Jersey at 2:30am so to beat the traffic onto Long Island (Freeport) arrive there at 5:30 crawl in the bunk and take a nap (dealer doesn’t open till 8:00) leave there around 9:00….. Next stop Fairfield, ME.
The ME. Scales are open so I roll in and the trooper asks for my log book. I hand it to him and he asks were I’m going, were I’ve been, did I have any other stops that were unloaded already, yada yada yada. So I tell him where I unloaded the other tractors and he says pull in the parking lot (keeps my log book) and says he’ll be over to see me.
A quick lesson on log books is in order here.
The new rules allow us to drive 11 hours. We cannot exceed 14hrs.total on duty and driving then we have to take 10 hrs. off before we can drive again. The clock starts when you first leave. If the shipper or consignee dinks around, the clock keeps ticking, if you get caught in traffic, the clock keeps ticking, if you get tired, pull over and take a nap, the clock keeps ticking etc.etc.
So rater then loose the 3 1/2hrs I was at the dealers ………..are you ready………I FUDGED MY LOG
I showed leaving Jersey at 5am (False)driving 3 hrs. (True) arriving in Freeport at 8am (false) leaving there at 9 (true) and now I’m in the parking lot of Maine’s finest.
So here’s what takes place.
Trooper asks for: drivers license….Check. Truck & trailer reg…check. Medical card…check. Toll receipts…Did you say toll receipts?.....check. Now he asks me to get out of the truck and asks if I have any drugs, firearms, Etc.” NO”….check…” any weapons?” me “my pocket knife” …him ”hand it over”….check. Then he proceeds to frisk me… WTF? Him “anything in your truck that will harm my dog” me “a York peppermint patty” him “yeah ok” So he puts his dog up on my trailer and walks him up to the one remaining tractor. Sniffs around, gets down, and then puts him in my truck…. Check. Now he starts in on my logs and receipts. So while he’s doing that I walk over to another trooper and ask him what’s up. He says what do you mean what’s up? I said why the frisk and search? He says S.O.P. Now I’ve heard some horror stories about Maine troopers and truckers but never really believed them ……till now.
Well after about 20 mins. He beckons me to his cruiser and commences to tell me that I’ve falsified my log (toll tickets don't match my log) and that he could arrest me and have my truck towed away if he wanted to and slap a 1000.00 fine on me.
Anyway, before I turn this into a novel, he gave me a warning ticket and told me to tear up todays log and make a new one.
So am I supposed to feel lucky that I didn’t go to jail or pissed that I was treated like a criminal. Mind you this search and frisk took place before he checked my log.
P.S After i get up the road a ways i realise he forgot to give my pocket knife back.
