Interfacing with the authorities

We’ve all had those road trips where we’ve had way to much coffee in the morning and despite a bathroom break before hopping behind the wheel, nature calls in a big way shortly after hitting the road.

The dog and I had spent Wednesday night at a commercial campground and finally hit the road around 9 a.m. I’d had two rather large cups of java that morning. Not twenty minutes down the road, I needed to ‘go’. There was a rest stop coming up but I just didn’t think I could make it.

I saw a wide shoulder up ahead on the road and decided to stop and relieve myself in the shrubbery in the field by the road. I was discreet about this but upon emerging from the shrubbery I saw a police vehicle pulling a u-turn to pull up behind my van. I wasn’t exactly sure what trouble I might have gotten into by peeing roadside. It is the U.S. and people are probably serving long prison sentences for less.

As I approached my van, two sheriffs from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office got out of their vehicle. One fellow was short and built like a fireplug and the other fellow was blond and taller and turned out to be in training. (They later asked if they could run my driver’s licence just so he could have the practice.)

In any event, as it turned out they seemed completely unconcerned that I’d been peeing in the woods. (A fact which I quickly confessed to so as to explain my emerging from the shrubbery.) They explained that they always stop when they see unattended vehicles at the side of the road. Apparently, the fireplug explained, they’ve found dead bodies in cars at the side of the road. So they were just glad that there was nothing to be concerned about.

We then ended up standing at the side of the road in the warm California morning sun talking about my travel plans. As noted the younger officer had gone off to check to see if I had any outstanding warrants (or whatever). He took such a long time coming back that I began to get somewhat uneasy about my state park stay a couple of nights ago. Would they have video cameras in campgrounds to catch those who might leave in the early morning without paying their fees? (Not that that was what I’d done!) Fortunately when he returned I appeared to be in the clear.

More topics of conversation got covered including enforcing drug laws and the life of a county sheriff.

At the other end of the day, we have made it as far as Sacramento where we’re staying at a KOA which, as far as I can tell, appears to be surrounded on three sides by freeways. I told the woman as the ‘desk’ that I can’t imagine how people found the place before GPS. I even took a couple of wrong turns with my GPS.

I’m hoping that I will be able to convince myself that the traffic sounds tonight are actually the sounds of surf washing up on a nearby beach.