Trip notes from the way back

I accidentally missed a shortcut I always take on the way back, so I added some miles to my trip unintentionally. 1,054 miles was my total miles coming back, with 14 hours and 24 minutes of traveling, only 42 minutes of which was non-driving (gas/restroom breaks).

In total, I put 2,159 miles on my car for this trip that was effectively one solid day in Arizona. From the time I left to the time I returned, 67 hours and 10 minutes elapsed, 29 hours and 20 minutes of which I was traveling (27:23 actually driving).

I finished my bottled waters, though I think I still have a code red left. I also finished my pringles and ritz bits, had some cheese nips, a couple pop tarts, a banana, some peanuts, and a sandwich. I didn't listen to as many CDs, though I did listen to a few. The singing was very minimal, and I actually sat quitely with my thoughts for a good couple hours. I would say most of the time I listened to pieces of several football games as I could find them on AM stations, as well as to a lot of sports radio in general.

The most notable event from the road was my "run-in" with the Border Patrol. On I-25, a little north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, there's a Border Patrol check point. Now, I understand the need for these check points, but really, what "hard core" illegal immigrant is going actually take that road? If they've gotten passed the border itself, they're not going to be fooled by a very apparent choke point that allows no traffic through without inspection. Plus there are other roads they can take to get around that station. But I digress.

Here's a "best recollection" transcript of my conversation with the representative of the department of homeland security (subject to weary-driver-fuzzy-detail-insertion):

Border Patrol Officer (BPO): "Are you a U.S. Citizen?"

Me: "Yes."

Editor's Note: Conversation should have ended right there.

BPO: "Where you coming from?"

Me: "Tucson."

BPO: "Where you headed?"

Me: "Oklahoma City."

BPO: "What's your business?"

Me: "Pardon?"

BPO: "What's the nature of your travel?"

Me: "Visiting family, attending a wedding."

He then walked around the car, looked inside, presumably looking for my stash of contraband, be they things or people.

BPO: "Do you own this vehicle?"

Me: "Yes"

The whole time I was holding my driver's license, prepared to show it to him. At this point I offered it to him, but he waved his hand to clearly indicate he had no use getting to know his harassee.

After another few moments of looking things over, he then waved me through.


Now, I'm in favor of a thorough approach to such activities, but I was a little put off because every car I could see ahead of me while I was in the line to be checked had a MUCH shorter visit with Mr. BPO. He seemed to scrutinize them less.

Let's see some equal application of the law, folks!