A Meeting with Iowa's Finest and Other Van Mishaps

This past Friday night I found myself cruising up to Rochester, MN, to attend the regional AMSA (American Medical Student Association) conference at Mayo. And I mean ... cruising.

I've always joked that as a 28-year-old driving a beat-up looking, 1995 Dodge Caravan, I am fairly immune from highway patrolmen/women. (My green mobile is certainly not a red sports car.) If they see me driving a bit faster than perhaps I should, maybe - I tell myself - they will think that I am late to my kid's soccer match or that I am running another one to the emergency room with a broken arm. Yes, perhaps.

But on a dark, cloudy night, a speeding bullet is a speeding bullet.

And as soon as I passed the boxy, white shadow sitting along the side of the road, the flashes of red and blue were soon to follow. Nabbed ... my first (but well-deserved and long-overdue) speeding ticket.

The cop was quite nice and seemed somewhat surprised when I responded honestly with how fast I was traveling and that I was quite aware of the speed limit. He thanked me for my cooperation and dropped my speed by five miles and saved me thirteen bucks. He most certainly didn't have to do that, but my bank account certainly appreciates it!

I resignedly set my cruise at a "cop safe" 58 mph and continued onward.

I arrived late in to Rochester, and my friend Jon and I grabbed a quick early-morning breakfast at Perkin's, seemingly the only restaurant open at that hour. He was concerned that I wasn't going to find a parking spot when we returned to the hotel room, but we tried our luck anyway, entering a nearby lot with a red sign warning, "Sorry, lot full." As my luck would have it, I DID find a spot --- right on first floor. I thought it all together appropriate to give my friend a high-five, but in doing so, I somehow managed to knock my rearview mirror cleanly off the windshield and send it flying. How I managed to do so remains a mystery, but I can assure you that we were sobbing with laughter for a good ten minutes afterward! Laughter really IS the best medicine.

(Anyone want to buy a 1995 Dodge Caravan!? I'll throw in the character for free!)