I’ve been counting police vehicles spotted on my trip.  The only rule is that I’m counting only highway sightings, as including city cops would skew the results even further than they are already by the disproportionate amount of time I’m spending in each of 7 states.  Though now that I think about it, I didn’t see a single cop in Moab in three days…

The totals are as follows:

• Colorado - 10 (for the lead)
• Utah - 8
• Oregon - 5, maybe 6, including a roadside search (I’m not certain if the state patrol I saw zoom past me to nab a speeder was the same one I’d seen minutes earlier on a bluff overlooking the interstate, or a second car working in tandem with the one I spotted)
• Idaho - 3 (though two were dealing with an overturned vehicle, only one was a speed trap)
• Washington - 3

Oregon’s placement is noteworthy considering how small a distance I actually drove through the state.  I miss the days when Oregon had almost no funding for state patrol.  All the ones I saw this trip were driving shiny new Dodge Chargers.  Clearly funding isn’t a problem for them anymore.

So far the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline I’ve seen was in some tiny no-name town with one store east of Montrose, Colorado, and it comes in at a whopping $4.40 a gallon.  Prior to that, the record was $4.19 a gallon, seen just after I got over the Cascades in Washington.  But without much effort, I’ve kept all my refills under $4 a gallon.  Not that it matters; I’ll still be spending around $600 on gas this trip.

When I was on my way to Moab, I saw a store with a sign out front that said—no joke—$1.79 a gallon.  In fact, the two cars ahead of me swerved off at the last minute, presumably to check it out.  Being the skeptic that I am, and having more than plenty in the tank to continue on, I didn’t join them.

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