Encounter with a State Trooper
David and I had a lovely visit to Pierre , the Capital City of South Dakota, and had seen all the main sights. We were now en-route to the town of Deadwood ( of stage-coach fame ) via Sturgis. We had a full tank, a good road map and a sat nav which we were sure we would not need. Route 34 would take us straight there.
Full of confidence, we crossed over the great Missouri River and off we went. We were on our second visit to South Dakota and felt like seasoned travellers. We had a nice hire car and David had got used to driving on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road.
Of course we made the usual mistake about distance. The hardest thing for us, coming from a small island which is only 32k square miles as against 77k square miles in South Dakota is that distances no matter how small they may appear on the map are really much further than we imagine. The roads are all straight, whilst we in Ireland, seem to have little concept of a straight road.
After a while we noticed a change in the amount of traffic on Route34. It had gone from sparse to practically non existent. This did not particularly bother us as we knew we were on the direct route to our destination. The small towns marked on our map turned out to be mostly abandoned ghost towns. We are enchanted by the prairies. They undulate and change all the time. The sense of space, and the peace of the place is like a balm to the spirit. We quite like silence and feel no need to fill it with radio or idle chatter.
We were counting the time interval between seeing any other cars on the road. We topped one hillock and noticed a vehicle at the bottom of the hill coming towards us. It was a State Trooper’s vehicle and when it passed us it turned around and put the flashing lights on.
Now suddenly we were not so seasoned any more. Did he mean us? Should we pull over? What could be the matter? The next problem was that there was nowhere to pull off the road and we had to find a safe looking place on the prairie’s edge to pull on to. We both came to a stop. For a while nothing happened. We waited and still nothing happened.
Then a young Trooper got out of his car and approached us on the driver’s side. But he walked in a crouched manner and he had his hand on his gun. What? Where was the danger? Were there snipers camouflaged on the prairie ? It couldn’t possibly be us? What again? So when the very young man appeared at the driver’s window still with his hand on his gun he met with two Irish people in total shock.
He asked to see David’s driving licence and when it was produced he was a little sceptical. He had never seen an Irish driving licence and we had to explain to him that it was also an international driving licence. He said he needed to check it and would David accompany him to his vehicle. They walked back to the car and he still kept his hand on his gun.
Time passed and more time passed. I sat and fretted with my eyes glued to the view of the Trooper’s vehicle in the mirror. It was a very hot day with temperatures close to 100F and a hot insect laden wind was blowing. David had not only turned off the car’s engine but he had automatically taken the keys with him. No air conditioning. What was happening in that car? I checked on my mobile phone and found that there was no signal. Would I need to contact our cousin, Dick, in Sioux Falls? Were we going to bring shame to the family name?
David eventually returned to the car putting his wallet back in his pocket. What was the outcome? The young man had checked the driver’s licence. We had apparently been speeding (by a small margin). He opted not to fine us but he had to take some details from David. He had never heard of Ireland, and could not fit our details into his form. Each word was carefully spelt out for him and for the purpose of the form Ireland became a state. He gave us a Courtesy Warning and asked David to watch his speed.
Today the Courtesy Warning from the South Dakota Highway Patrol number BB 238894 is in a frame in our home. It serves as a warning that when we are driving to check the cruise control is working properly, and also as a reminder of when we had the living daylights scared out of us.
I guess the Trooper tells the story quite differently. I’m betting he says something like ” I pulled over this elderly couple for speeding on Route 34 about 80 miles out. I don’t know what had happened to them before they took the hill but they were as scared as rabbits in headlights. And you’ll never guess where they were from…”