Last night we had our first encounter with the local police. We were heading home from dinner, following the slowest driver ever 2 cars ahead of us, going about 20 MPH on the main road. Steve decided to pass the slow car, and subsequently the car travelling between us, even though it was a double yellow no passing zone. Almost immediately, the blue flashers went on. Two patrol cars and 5 officers pulled us over. My first thought was, this is how people end up on that Locked Up Abroad show…

Unlike back home where the police officers approach the vehicle, Steve was ordered out of the car to approach the officers and present his license and registration. Ugh. Our driver’s licenses are still from Michigan, and we don’t have the registration. The license thing ended up not being an issue. Although we need to have St. Croix driver’s licenses within 90 days of moving, we moved on September 15, so we are still within the 90 day limit…barely. The registration was an issue. Steve went a few days earlier to renew our registration, he just never put it back in the car. So even though we had the new registration sticker in the window, it didn’t matter. He ended up with 2 citations, 1 for passing in a no passing zone and 1 for not having registration in the vehicle.

Once he finished with Steve, the officer then approached our vehicle to check it out, flash his light in the window, and talk to me. We had an open beer bottle in the center cup holder…of course. It’s totally legal to drink and drive here, but driving drunk is still illegal. He didn’t even ask about it. Nor did he ask any of the typical questions about where we were coming from, what we were doing, had we been drinking, etc. He just told me to be an active passenger and not let my husband do dumb things. Duly noted.

It’s never fun getting a ticket, or 2 for that matter, but overall it wasn’t a horrible experience. Steve did something wrong, got caught, and took responsibility for it. Only problem, his court date was scheduled for January 12, when we are supposed to be off island visiting his parents in Tennessee. How are you going to break that news to your mom, Steve??

We headed back on our way home. But, a few miles down the road, it happened again… blue flashers in the rear view! What could we possibly have done wrong this time?! We pull over again. It’s the same officer from before. He comes up to the window and tells me to give him the tickets back. He’s throwing them out and letting us off with a warning. Whaaat?! That would never happen back home. I love this island!