Adventures in visiting mom

I left work a little early to visit mom today. Mom had a mild stroke on June 2 of this year and was released after undergoing rehab on August 8. Mom is making progress. I mentioned earlier in the week that I would visit her today. She said she would make dinner. Mom has been doing better lately and I was looking forward to this visit. I brought her a poinsettia because I am a wonderful son.

From where I live to mom's place it is about an hour of driving time. It was a nice visit. I did a few chores for mom and took out her garbage when I left. It gets damn dark early this time of year. About halfway home off in the distance I noticed a set of flashing red and blue lights off in the distance that then vanished. I was doing the speed limit, not that I do not speed, but because the deer are a menace around here and a number of people have totalled vehicles in encounters with them. 

I could see the cruiser sitting on a side road idling with its lights off. It was hard to miss. As I passed by on the highway he turned off the side road and followed behind me. I got about a mile down the highway with him behind me and was lit up by a member of Canada's finest, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I found a place to pull over, threw the car in park, hit the hazard lights and dug out my insurance, registration, and license.

I waited. And waited. And waited some more. I was not sure what was taking so long. I know getting out of the vehicle would be a major mistake. Finally the officer walked over and asked if I had anything to drink or smoke. I have never smoked and had nothing to drink tonight. I was then told I was going to be given a breathalyzer test. 

Seriously? My driving cannot be that bad.

Whenever I have been pulled over by the police for anything I am polite and do not answer any more than what is required. By being polite I have gotten off a few times with a warning when I was clearly speeding. I am reasonably well behaved behind the wheel, I have one speeding ticket on my current record from November 2017. Note to self, do not speed near Medicine Hat, Alberta. I blew and came up with a zero reading. Then he took my information back to his cruiser. I remembered that I heard rumours that random checks were being done in rural Alberta. I do not have a problem with it, I just never expected to be pulled over and tested for being impaired.

I was caught and released with the only inconvenience being to my time. About another ten miles down the road another vehicle was pulled over with a different RCMP cruiser lighting up the sky. I am home being no worse for wear. Time for a beer.