Another shorter, relatively warm day. The snow is melting nicely. On the steeper south facing slopes the ground is already poking through in a bunch of places. Pretty soon I might even be able to see the trail.
I had stopped for lunch during a roadwalk, since the guardrails make nice places to sit without getting soaked. Almost right after my lunch break a cop car pulls up along side of me and asks me if I had just been down at the intersection. Apparently during my lunch break someone had called me in as a suspicious person. I guess a backpacker, with a backpack on, on a backpacking trail, is now considered suspicious.
It turns out that there was a recent homicide in the area that had put locals on edge. The cops were nice about it, but still took my info just in case. At least one of the cops actually knew about the trail, and there were two FLT signs within sight that I could point out to the other one.
The same thing had happened to me during the Alabama roadwalk between the Florida trail and Flagg mt. I was with Needles at the time, and he was having van support from Gatorade Gordon. It was a bit tougher to convince those cops that we were on a hiking trail to Canada, when all we were carrying was day packs. Apparently at that time the cops were more concerned about Gordon in the big white van parked at the corner, even though it had "all trails lead to God" written on the side of it.
Tonights leanto isn't quite as nice as the last one. This one has been around since 1933, and has been used as a local party place based on the register. Still a dry place to set my tent up, and a convenient place to camp.
Adventuring around the country, one step, one paddle, one pedal at a time.
Showing posts with label cops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cops. Show all posts
Monday, March 11, 2013
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Border Patrol
Today I passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint, one of several that I have been through. They seem to be permanent checkpoints, but they aren't actually at the border crossings. I think they are just to systematically check for any non-citizens.
This particular check was interesting because it was in the middle of nowhere so they were pretty surprised to see a biker. It was at least 150 miles of nothingness between the towns, so they wanted to make sure I had enough water, etc. Since I knew the distance, I had prepared by taking an extra gallon of water with me. I think they didn't realize the kind of distance that someone can cover on a bike, thinking that I would be out for a week or so between towns. They did offer me extra water just in case, but I didn't need any more, so after they confirmed I was a US citizen they let me pass.
This particular check was interesting because it was in the middle of nowhere so they were pretty surprised to see a biker. It was at least 150 miles of nothingness between the towns, so they wanted to make sure I had enough water, etc. Since I knew the distance, I had prepared by taking an extra gallon of water with me. I think they didn't realize the kind of distance that someone can cover on a bike, thinking that I would be out for a week or so between towns. They did offer me extra water just in case, but I didn't need any more, so after they confirmed I was a US citizen they let me pass.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Cops
How to make money from cops:
I was riding along the shoulder of I-10 in New Mexico when a cop pulled over in front of me. Since he didn't have his lights going I checked behind me to make sure no trucks were coming, and then just went around him. As I was going by he yelled for me to pull over, so I did, figuring he just wanted to make sure I was ok.
Instead, he started questioning me about what I was doing, where I was going, etc, so I explained the basis of my trip. After talking for a bit he told me that I wasn't allowed to ride on the interstate, and he would have to give me a ticket. Now the rules differ by state, some allow you to ride interstates only if there isn't a similar parallel route, others allow it as long as there isn't heavy traffic, etc. I wasn't sure of the NM rules, but I knew that all the on-ramps had signs saying that pedestrians and motor driven cycles aren't allowed, but that bicycles should use shoulder only.
Knowing this I told him I was pretty sure I was allowed to be there, and could show him signs proving that. He was pretty skeptical, so I ended up making a bet with him, unofficially of course. If I could prove that I was allowed to be there, he would pay me the fine for the ticket he had tried to give me. If I couldn't immediately prove that I was allowed to be there, I would have to take the ticket and pay the fine. Fair enough by me.
I ended up locking my bike to itself with the rear wheel locked up, then jumping in the back of the police car. We took a U-turn on the interstate and went back to the last exit/on-ramp to see if there was any signage. Sure enough, there was one of the little "bicycles use should only" signs. The cop was pretty surprised, and said he was going to look into the relevant laws later, but drove me back to my bike and paid for the bet. Not a bad way to make a few bucks, although it was pretty stressful to deal with any kind of cop in that situation.
I was riding along the shoulder of I-10 in New Mexico when a cop pulled over in front of me. Since he didn't have his lights going I checked behind me to make sure no trucks were coming, and then just went around him. As I was going by he yelled for me to pull over, so I did, figuring he just wanted to make sure I was ok.
Instead, he started questioning me about what I was doing, where I was going, etc, so I explained the basis of my trip. After talking for a bit he told me that I wasn't allowed to ride on the interstate, and he would have to give me a ticket. Now the rules differ by state, some allow you to ride interstates only if there isn't a similar parallel route, others allow it as long as there isn't heavy traffic, etc. I wasn't sure of the NM rules, but I knew that all the on-ramps had signs saying that pedestrians and motor driven cycles aren't allowed, but that bicycles should use shoulder only.
Knowing this I told him I was pretty sure I was allowed to be there, and could show him signs proving that. He was pretty skeptical, so I ended up making a bet with him, unofficially of course. If I could prove that I was allowed to be there, he would pay me the fine for the ticket he had tried to give me. If I couldn't immediately prove that I was allowed to be there, I would have to take the ticket and pay the fine. Fair enough by me.
I ended up locking my bike to itself with the rear wheel locked up, then jumping in the back of the police car. We took a U-turn on the interstate and went back to the last exit/on-ramp to see if there was any signage. Sure enough, there was one of the little "bicycles use should only" signs. The cop was pretty surprised, and said he was going to look into the relevant laws later, but drove me back to my bike and paid for the bet. Not a bad way to make a few bucks, although it was pretty stressful to deal with any kind of cop in that situation.
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