Several weeks ago, I got word that all three of my brothers were going to be home at the same time. Given how far apart we all live, this was a rare opportunity, not to be missed if at all possible.

I was about three-quarters of the way home on Friday night when I passed a car which was parked along the side of the road, hidden from the travel lane by a bridge support. From the car's hidden location, I assumed it was a State Police vehicle, but since I was travelling slightly below the speed limit, I wasn't greatly concerned.

A minute or two further down the road, a new pair of headlights settled in behind me and sure enough, a few moments later, the trooper turned on the "Christmas tree" and pulled me over.

As the officer approached, I rolled down my window, and he called out "Hey Buddy! Your taillights are out!" As he walked up to my window, he started to say something else and then noticed the flashlight I'd duct-taped to the steering column so I could read the speedometer. "Shoot, you don't have much of anything left, do you?"

About 45 minutes earlier, I'd been driving up the side of a mountain into Somerset County, between areas with good radio reception, and thinking about the general condition of my pickup. The truck was the last 1989 model on the lot, and it's still in generally good shape. As I was driving up the mountain, I got to thinking about how the dome and floor lights had burned out over the past few years and realized that I should probably replace the bulbs in instrument panel before they burned out too.

As soon as that idea entered my mind, there was a flash of light from under the dashboard, accompanied by the instrument panel going black. The headlights were still on though, so I continued on my journey, stopping briefly to duct tape a flashlight to the steering column.

So here I was, 45 minutes after the lights went out, and the police had stopped me as a result. After checking that my hazard lights worked, the officer told me to leave them on for the rest of my trip and let me go.

No doubt one of the reasons I didn't get a ticket was because there weren't many cars on the road at that hour, I'd been driving very carefully, and the officer just didn't see a need to add to my misfortune. But I can't help thinking that the main reason was that he was in a hurry to tell his buddies the funny story about the guy with all his lights burned out and a flashlight duct-taped to the steering column.