I meant to post this last week but got so busy I forgot.

I have a device calleda Prepass transponder in the truck. At most weigh
stations you'll see a pole-mounted radio transceiver about 1/2 mile
before the scale, then another about 1/4 mile from the scale. The first
one sends a signal to my transponder that causes it to send it's ID
code, which gets fed into a computer at the scale house. The computer
decides whether my truck needs to go over the scale. The decision gets
sent to my transponder when I pass the second transponder. If I get to
bypass the scale my transponder flashes a green light and gives me a
slow beeeeeep-beeeeep-beeeeep. If I have to go over the scale my
transponder gives me a red light and a fast beepbeepbeep beepbeepbeep
beepbeepbeep.

The states of OR and WA always give me the red signal.

The folks that man the scale houses are DOT (Dept of Transportation)
employees, and usually have absolutely no sense of humor.

Last week when we came upon a scale house in southern OR we got the red
signal like usual. As I came up almost to the scale pan I noticed that
the scale inspector was a female DOT officer. She noticed that there was
a beautiful orange kitten curled up on my dashboard, on her side. As
soon as she saw Harri her face lit up in a huge smile and she started
waving like a kid and was talking up a storm to Harri. I nudged Harri
and pointed over to the scale house, telling her "look, it's a kitty
person! She's talking to you and waving. Do you want to wave back?"

Harri was of course unimpressed. As I exited the scale and passed the
inspector's window I smiled at her and waved back. It was such a
wonderful experience to see Harri light up a stranger's face like that.
And it wasn't bad that she didn't watch the scale to see if I was
overweight :)

Dan