Just got home from a company outing - a paddle boat ride on the Missouri and dance. Things were winding down so I decided to head out. When leaving the parking lot, you turn onto an access road for a 1/4 blk, then onto another access road for a 1/4 blk, and then onto a main 4 lane street. While waiting at the light for the main street, I notice a police car pull up behind me. There were 2 officers in the car and they were laughing and looking at my car. Light turns green, I turn left.
They do too. Then the cherries come on. I pull over to the right lane thinking they'll go by. Nope, they pull over with me. There wasn't anywhere to pull over, so I stopped on that street. Turn the car off, leave my hands on top of the steering wheel. The officer walks up and says I rolled through the stop sign from the 1st access road onto the 2nd. I probably didn't come to a complete stop, but it would have been a pretty slow rolling stop.
Anyway, that wasn't the big fish they were trolling for. He asked me if I had been drinking. I said yes, I had had 1 drink (which was a bit of a fib - I had actually had 2 beers in the 2.5 hrs I was there). He wanted to do a field sobriety test on me. I've never had to do this before but I felt confident I would pass. He had me do the following:
the alphabet
count from 87 to 68
stand on 1 foot with the other 6" off the ground for 30 sec
9 steps heel to toe down and back on an imaginary straight line
tilt your head back, close your eyes, and tell him when 30 sec had passed
then lots of conversation - about the dance, work, my car
then the breathalizer
I passed the 1st two without any trouble. Standing on 1 leg was more difficult than I thought it would be - my 51 yr old legs were a bit nervous but maybe I was drunk (I'm 5'10" and 190# and not a big drinker, so who knows?). I found my stablizing point and didn't fall over. No problems on the next two and was more relaxed as we talked about everything. Did the breathalizer and he handed my license back to me. I thanked him for keeping the streets safe.
He packed up his kit and was about to get in his car. I said "out of curiosity, what did I blow?". He said .018 - about 1 drink.
I got in my car and carefully proceeded on my way. It could have been a much more interesting evening, but I'm really glad it wasn't.
Stay thirsty my friends.