Driving in Vegas

This is a design that I see when I get onto the freeway, but it's everywhere here.  It looks like a reverse @ sign, but it must be Native American or something.  (If anyone knows what it is or what it means, I'd love to know!) 

Aside from some cool designs on freeway overpasses, there's also usually some kind of interesting decorative rocks on the cloverleaf areas of the freeways here.  Of course, it's harder to get photos of those if you're driving, but I will figure out how at some point (eventually I'll be a passenger).  It might not be so different from what you're used to if you're from Arizona or New Mexico, but for someone who came here from California, it's not what you'd normally see: no trees, for one thing. 

So the other day I got on the freeway and I had an NHP (Nevada Highway Patrol) right near me, but in the middle lane, not the left, where I was.  I realized he was clocking me when I started to move back to the middle lane, and rather than continuing over to the left lane (as he had started to do), he moved back into the center lane, right behind me.

One thing about this place is that they don't screw around when it comes to that.  I suppose the upcoming holiday weekend might have something to do with the increased presence (I had one behind me on the way, and saw one on the way back, which is a bit more than I usually see). 

The NHP stayed behind me, and I got the message: you're going too fast.  So I dropped down 10 mph, which seemed to take his attention off of me, and he took off after someone who had passed in the left lane and left both of us in the dust. 

Close call, especially since I can't afford a ticket right now.  (I have a great driving record: my last actual ticket was years ago.  I just don't have the money to pay a ticket, since from what I understand, they can be pretty expensive!)

If you're moving here, you have to get your car registered pretty quickly.  It's not cheap, either.  My friend in Florida pays less than $100, while here, a car that's in the same age group is over $300.  And if you've got a high-end SUV, be prepared: an acquaintance of mine pays over $900 . . . per year!

Also, if you don't have registration at all (If you have a car that's just sitting and waiting, as I see occasionally in my complex; I expect it's not running or at least isn't being driven), or if you've got out-of-state plates and they see them for an extended period of time in an apartment complex parking lot (I don't know if that applies to private homes with private driveways, though), you get a warning.  If you don't get your Nevada plates in the specified period of time, they can haul the car off.  The police drive through apartment complexes and housing subdivisions at regular intervals, too.

I suspect this is because there are a lot of people coming and going, seeking their fortunes, as it were, in a gambling town.  I guess they got tired of people coming here and not paying up.  They do take pretty decent care of the roads . . . again, much better than Los Angeles.  But that's not really a fair comparison, I suppose, since this is so much smaller a place.