Road Tricks

I just got back from one of my major solo road trips. Ninety-five percent of this trip is on a major interstate highway, and I'll spare you my rambling about the odd things people think it's okay to do when sharing a strip of tarmac with dozens of other large, potentially lethal moving machines. Except, something new this trip, when did it become okay for tractor-trailers to cruise in the left-hand lane of a highway? Having them pop in and out, playing a horizontal version of leap-frog with each other on two lanes is entertaining (there are other words for it too), but this is when there are three lanes to chose from. I suppose you could say they were passing, because they certainly were passing a lot of vehicles, but they never went back to their designated right-lane. For all the years I've been doing this drive, there is one thing that has kept me puzzled: the speed limit signs. I'm sure this sounds crazy, but they change frequently. I'm talking from trip to trip, not place to place. The signs in the southern states look like the usual permanent metal signs, but they aren't. The numbers on them change. At random, as far as I can tell. I'll be surprised by a sudden switch from 70 to 60 and try to make a mental note of it. But the next time I come through, it doesn't change in the same place. It's not just me. My daughter makes the same drive and we've compared notes. Did it drop 15 mph when you crossed the state line? Last time I drove it did, but not this time. The list goes on. It wouldn't bother me so much if I could figure out why it was happening. Of course it makes total sense when there are on and off ramps for a very busy place such as Village-on-the-Slowly-Winding-Creek. I understand that's a direct translation of the Native American gnpfz. But for the most part there's absolutely no rhyme or reason that I can see. I have wondered if when the state coffers are running low, the signs are changed abruptly so more speeders can be caught and fined. It has also occurred to me that in the less populated areas, when life becomes too boring, people change the signs just for fun and then watch the drivers try to adjust. Although, as I've pointed out before, many drivers seem to ignore any and all signs on the highway, so that I imagine it doesn't have the entertainment value it used to.