Nevada Highway Patrol are very diligent!

Once again, things have been busy and I have neglected to update the blog!! Sorry to all of you who have been checking back to see if I have added anything new!

We went over the mountain with Champagne Charlie to see the Carson City Honda dealer to programme the new auto-lock key so we had a spare.... as Charlie only had the one when he came into our lives. He also has the somewhat alarming habit of letting us know he is out there when he is feeling neglected..... in other words, from time to time, for no clear reason, the car alarm keeps going off. Usually around 10pm when we are winding down towards bed-time! I think he wants us to read him a bedtime story!

Anyway, we headed over the mountain, and as we came into Carson City and onto highway 395, I had a NV Highway Patroller sitting in the other lane, in my blind spot. I stopped at a red light, and he pulled in just behind me. A snowplow truck pulled in beside me, and gestured the police were looking me up. As I had already noticed him behind me, I just smiled. Either I was to be pulled over, or I wasn't. The patrol car was already behind me. I hadn't been speeding, and I had not run any red lights or anything.... so I waited for the light to change.

When the traffic light turned green, the Reds and Blues started flashing behind me, so I used my indicator to let him know I had seen him. There was no hard (or soft) shoulder, so I pulled into the nearest parking lot. The patroller was very polite.... he came up and told me who he was, and asked me if I owned the car I was driving. I said yes, but it was new as I had bought it on the First of January. He asked me it I knew the registration had expired. I said I had the temporary up on the windscreen...... I handed over my drivers license, which he looked at and handed back. He asked to see the temporary registration, so I pulled off the tape which held it to the windscreen. He read it and remarked that it really WAS the First of January we had purchased the car. I just smiled. He just said everything was ok, and said I was free to go. So off I went.

We went to the Honda dealer, who programmed the new key, and looked around for the problem with the alarm. They could not find it, and the new key actually does not activate the alarm system, so they suggested just using that rather than the original one, or go find a Car Hi-Fi dealer to work with the alarm system, as they thought they may have a better chance to fix it. As the alarm is a Honda alarm, that surprised me, but as we were just 'turn-up' customers without a booking (and no charge for the programming of the key) we did not complain. We just headed into Reno, 30 miles down the road, to the next Honda dealer. Reno's Honda dealer did not try anything, but booked us in for an appointment so they could look into the entire 'alarming' incidents..... and do a check-over since we did not purchase from an actual Honda Dealer, so we know all the fuses and fluids and things are ok.

So, we found a lovely shop in Reno which sells food from the UK, including English sausages and bacon (back bacon cannot be found in the USA, for some reason) and bought some to bring home. Back towards Carson City and the easiest pass over the mountain. Well, we filled up the car, which was headed towards empty.... Carson City has the cheapest fuel around, so we always fill up when we are there. We put in 11 Gallons, for less than $22. God Bless America!! So much better than English petrol prices!!! Only managing to get about 23 miles to a gallon, but we HAVE been going up and over mountain passes, from 7000 feet to 5000 feet in 10 miles of road, so there's quite a bit of work for the engine to do.

After filling up, we were headed back down highway 395.... and I had another Highway Patrol car in my blind spot. Well, you can guess where this is headed. I stopped at a traffic light, he pulled in behind me, and when the light went green, he turned on his lights, and we pulled over. Again. Different officer this time, and nowhere near as friendly as the first one. I showed him my license, and told him that I had been pulled over by one of his colleagues about two hours ago. He just looked at me, and told me that the dealer should have taken the license plates off the car when we purchased it.

He did let us go off on our merry way, but we are now thinking every time we go anywhere, the cops will pull us over... so I am not exceeding the speed limit at all, if I can help it! Not that I normally do..... at least not by much!

We made it back to South Lake Tahoe without further incident, at least no more stopping by highway patrol! After a quick call to the dealer we bought Charlie from, we were told the new tags should be with us at the end of next week.... so hopefully this constant stopping in Nevada will stop. I think the difference is in California, you keep the number plate with the car and get new 'date' tags for the registration. In Nevada, you get entirely new plates, so they are on the lookout for expired dates on all plates.

So - now we are driving around, ready to count the number of police sightings! Watch this space!