Lead Footin' It

I said I would write about this yesterday, but I was inder the effects a a new pain pill so, that and many other things didn't happen.
I have written before that I am a fast driver. I drive fast but, unlike the tens of millions of other drivers I drive carefully. I watch for oncoming traffic, side roads, driveways, animals and yes cops too.
Here is one thing I'm willing to do that no one I know of is. I am perfectly willing to take the ditch to avoid an accident. That may damage my truck, it may total my truck, hell, it may even do the same to me. But that's what I'm willing to do.
  So I made the trip to my doctors office in Richmond, Missouri. A drive of about 25 minutes or so.The road, 10 Highway, is a 2 lane blacktop with a recent overlay. It has 6 curves from slight to tight. One has a dual arc, which can be tricky. Even though we drive as fast as conditions will allow, it is still a road, not a race course, So we have to stay in our lane at all times. We use every bit of our lane but we do not cross the center line except for passing. I believe I made that trip in 19 minutes. Now that  not seem like a lot of time savings but to shave 6 minutes off a 25 minute drive requires some hot footing on the accelerator pedal. The top speed I was able to hit was 89 mph. The road had little traffic, I passed 2 vehicles and caught up to another that soon took a turn to the old highway leading to old downtown Richmond. Once I got on the new 210 Highway I had more traffic to contend with as well as construction. I don't know about you or your state but in Missouri the fines in a construction zone are double and I have worked roadside construction and will not make that job harder by scaring the workers. So I made up 6 minutes on the 2 lane blacktop. I was really hustelin' . Any way I arrived at my Doctors place, checked in, read half of a magazine article and heard my name called. I got weighed, and had my BP taken. The nurse says, "Hmmm, we haven't seen numbers like this for a while" I inquired as to the reading and it was 186/105. So the good Doc comes in and we discuss several matters and then he brings up my BP reading. I asked if tense or stressful situations would cause one or both sides of the reading to go up. He said usually both sides. So I explained what I had done and he commented that with that info he would write off that days blood pressure reading and asked me to take it when I got home. I arrive home after a more sedate drive, did some house cleaning and took my blood pressure. 160/80. Not great, but hey,  that's what I gotta live with. We have several rural roads with a lotta curves around here. Me and one of my buddies are working to straighten them out as they say. Now we aren't kiddies. We fully understand the situation. So we make our mods to our trucks, we keep things safe, we look out for others and are both willing to take the ditch, woods or fence as needed to prevent having a multi car accident. And we both have been to court over this many time. When I was a young man I did lose my drivers license for thirty day due to racking up to many points in a short time. So with age and hopefully a little garnered wisdom and a few electronic goodies I make my way down the road. I drive the conditions and if the condition allow for higher than normal I take advantage of that. We have cars with the best motors, transmissions, brakes and safety systems that have ever been devised. We have, mostly, roads and highways that support high speed driving. Hell, years ago with crappy brakes and piss poor roads some of the highway around here had speed limits of "Right and Proper". Seriously, the speed limit signs said right and proper. That was pre-55mph. It was also before the state started sucking the tit of the Federal Government.
All this brings me to this, Texas may be the first in the nation to post an 85 mph speed limit (on a toll road), in the nation. I was a little surprised. I lived in Texas for a couple years and I don't believe I ever saw anyone on a highway drive less than eighty. When I was working with an oilfield service company, I usually got elected to drive. We drove 4 door Chevy crew trucks pulling a funky custom made trailer with tandem axles. had that rig over a hundred many times. Oh, by the way, if your are wondering, I do not drive if I am under the effects of the meds. I blog instead.