For the past three Monday's I was in Norfolk, VA on business. It's only a three hour drive from my home so I took the family (since work is paying for the hotel and gas) for a "free vacation" of sorts.

I needed to leave home no later than 2:00 the first Monday in order to get checked into the hotel and then to the movie venue were I was scheduled to speak before the show started. We got a late start (as always) but I was not worried because I figured I would "push the peddle to the metal" and shave some time off the trip.

So 30 miles from my destination the husband yells, "there's a cop.' Well "the cop" was flying down the opposite side of the highway so I was not worried.

WRONG! The next thing I knew I was being pulled over. The area was in the middle of nowhere with nothing around but a long stretch of road and cotton fields.

When I looked in the side mirror I noticed that it was a "chick" cop so I was hoping she might give me some kind of "sisterhood" break. WRONG AGAIN!

She wrote me up for going 75 mph in a 55 mph zone. She did not even drop it to 74 so I would not get points. After waiting for what seemed like hours for her to do the paperwork and run the tags we finally get back on the road. That is when the husband announces that "she" probably would not have pulled me over if I had slowed down and showed her some respect.

WHAT? You mean to tell me there is some unspoken rules of etiquette to speeding. That just made me madder. Needless to say I was stressed and running really late. I made it to the speaking engagement just as the show was starting, but the owner said I could speak after the movie.

The theatre was packed so I took one of the few seats left. Suddenly this woman turned around and said, "That seat is broken."

Well it looked fine to me so I very carefully sat down. It looked okay for me, so I settled in. Thirty minutes into the show there was a loud clank and my seat collapsed on one side. At that moment I just wanted to be invisible but everyone one around me jumped up to see if I was okay. Then this woman turned around and said "I told you it was broke."

The rest of the evening was not as eventful so after having dinner with a local reporter I went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Next Chapter: The Monsoon Season