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Today I found out how long we really are …
We left Las Cruces this morning and made our way to Carlsbad, New Mexico. We will stay here for a week and have Carlsbad Caverns and more on our agenda. Looking at the map, we had 3 options to get to Carlsbad. Of course, as we usually do, we selected “the road less travelled”, the one in the middle and decided to travel along I-10 to 70 passing by White Sands to Alamogordo and then turned right onto 82 towards Cloudcroft, Mayhill, Hope, Artesia and finally to Carlsbad.
In Alamogordo we noticed signs repeatedly that stated trucks over 65 feet not allowed to travel on Rt. 82 between Cloudcroft and Artesia, a distance of 109 miles.
I read the warning signs, clearly read “trucks” and figured that is not us. So on we went and very quickly climbed about 3500 feet to Cloudcroft.
The road, all the way, is good and there is one tunnel at 17 feet, no problem.
In Cloudcroft, I noticed a State Trooper on the opposite side of the road and right after passing him, I noticed Christmas Lights coming on and the car making a u-turn to come quickly up behind us.
So … I pulled over to the side of the road and waited. When the trooper walked up tto us on the curbside, I stepped from the coach to meet him.
He did immediately go to tell me that I was traveling on a road that is limited to vehicles with a maximum length of 65 feet. I argued that the sign said “trucks” and he corrected me stating the signs say vehicles.
Then he asked me how long we are (Olivia plus our stacker) so I said “about 63 feet. He said, let me get out my measuring tape …
Well, would you believe it? We are 71 feet long!
He asked me to get my drivers license and registration papers and meet him at his cruiser.
He checked my papers and after a while, he turned towards me and said, well, you have a choice between 2 citations!
First one, $380.00 for driving an over-length vehicle or two, a $82 ticket for ignoring the road signs.
Which one do you want? What a question. Of course, I opted for the $82.00 ticket.
While he prepared the ticket on his computer, I mentioned that I would probably have to turn around right here and go back.
He said, no. You will have to continue because turning around and taking the road back to Alamogordo would be dangerous!
He went on to tell me that it would be about 109 miles to get to Artesia and if another law enforcement officer would stop me, to show the ticket he had issued which should get me off the hook from getting yet another citation. “They all know me” along this stretch of the road.
Well, he really was good about it and did not give me a hard time and he even allowed me to select the level of fine.
I could not help myself and my big mouth to say “that this si the first time in about 6 years that I had gotten pulled over” … to which he smiled at me and said “not a bad average”.
I guess this episode cost me about 75 cents per mile.
Other than that, this is a nice road. We went from about 3000 feet to almost 9000 feet and, in fact, we saw a lot of snow today.
The trooper was a good guy. He could have given me a much harder time and a big ticket.
🙂
Ronald
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6 Replies
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It seems like if he was a really good guy he would have let you disconnect the towed and drive the rest of the way as 2 legal length vehicles!
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How are you going to drive a stacker Bill?
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Ron will drive the bus, Gabi will push the stacker. Duh!
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71 is actually pretty short for a 45′ coach and stacker…I’m a little over 74.
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I drove that a few years back, in my Monaco 45 pulling a Ram 2500 long bed, was probably over 65′, but I don’t remember any problem being that long. Why the restriction if you made it at 71′?
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OOPS! Sorry, bad “assumption”!
2000 Featherlite H3-45
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Leesburg, FL
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