Metal Panda
One Moe Win
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2005
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- Age
- 44
Just thought I'd share this story of my last attempted trip to a Dolphins game. I know some of you others here probably have better ones, so please share.
So anyway, my friend and I make an annual trip to Fins games (except for last year...I was broke and couldn't afford it, and I tried to get tickets to the Bills home game on ebay late in the year but lost the bid), and we alternate who gets to drive each time. It was my turn to drive this time, and I didn't mind, since I just got a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer LX last December which is much better for road tripping. My friend's girlfriend is with us as well.
I have an uneasy feeling all morning and keep worrying something will go wrong, and I'm very careful to make sure I have my registration where I can find it and my insurance card.
As many of you are well aware, if you're driving to Opa Locka from Longwood/Lake Mary, Florida, there's a large portion of the drive where you're pretty much seemingly on the road by yourself. And it's easy to speed. And my new car drives so nicely, that I must not have noticed I'm going 95 miles an hour...and right after I look at the dash and see a state trooper on the right shoulder with a radar gun. I hit the brakes fast and get it down to 88 in a 70 mph zone, but it's too little too late. He pulls off the side and I pull over, ticked. Since I cooperate, and he's a nice guy, I get a seat belt violation instead (i had my belt on but he did it to prevent points/large ticket for me), and leave, ticked I'm now out an additional 75 bucks, but whatever.
So now we're probably 30 minutes away from Ives Dairy Road and I'm in a better mood again and we're laughing and joking in the center lane, me driving conservatively, when all of a sudden I notice the car in front of me not just slowing down but STOPPING on I-95. Apparently a white van had blown a tire in the middle of the road and instead of trying to push it off to the side he was sitting there admiring how neat it is to have a van stopped in the middle of the road. I stop with plenty of space, and so does the vehicle behind me, and the one behind me. I breathe a sigh of relief, and say to my friend "see, we're okay".
No sooner are those words out of my mouth when I see the cars behind me surging forward and I feel the van behind me PLOW into my Lancer. Apparently the person in the VERY back was following too close and didn't stop in time, causing a chain reaction. I'm startled beyond belief and we all breathed a sigh of relief after peeing ourselves and once we all determined none of us were hurt and we were all ok, I utter the most insensitive jibe ever to my friend...
"ARE WE GONNA MISS THE GAME?"...to which he responds "Probably". So I'm thinking great, now I get to pay a 250 deductible to repair my bumper (which looked really funny, nice and crumpled), a 75 dollar ticket, in addition to the money I spent on gas to come here, and now I might not get to see any football! Oh and did I mention SIX VEHICLES were involved in the accident?
So the cop, (who moved briskly through all six of us) gets us finished and tells me I can go 5 minutes to kickoff, but I'm at least 15 minutes away from Ives dairy, and well, you know how the traffic is.
We get to the parking lot 5 minutes after the game starts, and the cop waves me to go in and park. As I'm parking, I notice the person at the gate CLOSING THE GATE on me. This was the last straw. I wasn't about to miss another 25 minutes of the game thanks to not being able to park. I kept driving and eventually he gave up and just let me go through. Then I realized why he didn't want to let me in--nobody was left to take money and hand out parking passes. So I parked for FREE (no 20$!)
So we rush into the stadium as best we can and I SPRINT to my seat, thrilled to find out I only missed 7 minutes in regulation.
And the remaining 53 minutes made the horror of the first four hours of the trip all worthwhile. 34-10!
So anyway, my friend and I make an annual trip to Fins games (except for last year...I was broke and couldn't afford it, and I tried to get tickets to the Bills home game on ebay late in the year but lost the bid), and we alternate who gets to drive each time. It was my turn to drive this time, and I didn't mind, since I just got a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer LX last December which is much better for road tripping. My friend's girlfriend is with us as well.
I have an uneasy feeling all morning and keep worrying something will go wrong, and I'm very careful to make sure I have my registration where I can find it and my insurance card.
As many of you are well aware, if you're driving to Opa Locka from Longwood/Lake Mary, Florida, there's a large portion of the drive where you're pretty much seemingly on the road by yourself. And it's easy to speed. And my new car drives so nicely, that I must not have noticed I'm going 95 miles an hour...and right after I look at the dash and see a state trooper on the right shoulder with a radar gun. I hit the brakes fast and get it down to 88 in a 70 mph zone, but it's too little too late. He pulls off the side and I pull over, ticked. Since I cooperate, and he's a nice guy, I get a seat belt violation instead (i had my belt on but he did it to prevent points/large ticket for me), and leave, ticked I'm now out an additional 75 bucks, but whatever.
So now we're probably 30 minutes away from Ives Dairy Road and I'm in a better mood again and we're laughing and joking in the center lane, me driving conservatively, when all of a sudden I notice the car in front of me not just slowing down but STOPPING on I-95. Apparently a white van had blown a tire in the middle of the road and instead of trying to push it off to the side he was sitting there admiring how neat it is to have a van stopped in the middle of the road. I stop with plenty of space, and so does the vehicle behind me, and the one behind me. I breathe a sigh of relief, and say to my friend "see, we're okay".
No sooner are those words out of my mouth when I see the cars behind me surging forward and I feel the van behind me PLOW into my Lancer. Apparently the person in the VERY back was following too close and didn't stop in time, causing a chain reaction. I'm startled beyond belief and we all breathed a sigh of relief after peeing ourselves and once we all determined none of us were hurt and we were all ok, I utter the most insensitive jibe ever to my friend...
"ARE WE GONNA MISS THE GAME?"...to which he responds "Probably". So I'm thinking great, now I get to pay a 250 deductible to repair my bumper (which looked really funny, nice and crumpled), a 75 dollar ticket, in addition to the money I spent on gas to come here, and now I might not get to see any football! Oh and did I mention SIX VEHICLES were involved in the accident?
So the cop, (who moved briskly through all six of us) gets us finished and tells me I can go 5 minutes to kickoff, but I'm at least 15 minutes away from Ives dairy, and well, you know how the traffic is.
We get to the parking lot 5 minutes after the game starts, and the cop waves me to go in and park. As I'm parking, I notice the person at the gate CLOSING THE GATE on me. This was the last straw. I wasn't about to miss another 25 minutes of the game thanks to not being able to park. I kept driving and eventually he gave up and just let me go through. Then I realized why he didn't want to let me in--nobody was left to take money and hand out parking passes. So I parked for FREE (no 20$!)
So we rush into the stadium as best we can and I SPRINT to my seat, thrilled to find out I only missed 7 minutes in regulation.
And the remaining 53 minutes made the horror of the first four hours of the trip all worthwhile. 34-10!