Just Doing It
Yesterday, I was in my truck with a couple of friends, driving along backcountry roads in the middle of nowhere, when a sheriff moving the opposite direction, came barreling around the corner in a Yukon. About 20 yards later, I noticed a cloud of dust in my rearview mirror, saw him whip back around and throw on his lights.
As I pulled over to the side, we were all rather surprised he was actually coming for me. My longtime, good friend Nick says, "I don't have shit on me." Which seemed like a funny and unnecessary confession. I looked at him and chuckled, but also felt relieved. I rolled the window down in anticipation of the officer coming up to the truck, that's when we heard an amplified voice say, "Driver, step out of the vehicle and walk back towards me." I was like, "What the?" My friends were like, "Oh shit?!"
At this point there were two narratives that played in my head: 1. Exercise my rights, hope I don't get shot and that somehow everything was being recorded. I chose 2, which was getting it over with and seeing what he wanted. I opened my door, casually got out, fixed my unretracted seatbelt, closed my door, straightened the bill of my REI hat and proceeded to walk towards what seemed to be Sgt. Slaughter. He was like 6'6" if he were in quicksand, standing behind his door, arm propped up on the hood and wearing mirrored aviator style glasses. When I got within 15ft. he said, "Do you have any weapons or fire arms on you?" I replied, "I carry a knife and bear spray in my pack, but that's about it." He said, "What about in your truck?" I responded, "I got a shovel?" He said, "So you weren't just out here shooting?" I answered, "Nope, I'm just out here hiking." He said, "Well, I just wanted to check and make sure you weren't the one out here shooting" and gave me a friendly wave as to say I'm good to go. I waved back, turned around and walked away. Not sure what that was all about, but aside from having me get out and all that, he was cool and nicely mannered.
When I got back to the truck, my friend says, "Instead of getting out, you should've just yelled out the window, 'You have a really nice mustache?!!" In hindsight, I kinda wish I had, but I was really just trying to remember the last time I was pulled over. Must've been at least 20 years ago.
As I pulled over to the side, we were all rather surprised he was actually coming for me. My longtime, good friend Nick says, "I don't have shit on me." Which seemed like a funny and unnecessary confession. I looked at him and chuckled, but also felt relieved. I rolled the window down in anticipation of the officer coming up to the truck, that's when we heard an amplified voice say, "Driver, step out of the vehicle and walk back towards me." I was like, "What the?" My friends were like, "Oh shit?!"
At this point there were two narratives that played in my head: 1. Exercise my rights, hope I don't get shot and that somehow everything was being recorded. I chose 2, which was getting it over with and seeing what he wanted. I opened my door, casually got out, fixed my unretracted seatbelt, closed my door, straightened the bill of my REI hat and proceeded to walk towards what seemed to be Sgt. Slaughter. He was like 6'6" if he were in quicksand, standing behind his door, arm propped up on the hood and wearing mirrored aviator style glasses. When I got within 15ft. he said, "Do you have any weapons or fire arms on you?" I replied, "I carry a knife and bear spray in my pack, but that's about it." He said, "What about in your truck?" I responded, "I got a shovel?" He said, "So you weren't just out here shooting?" I answered, "Nope, I'm just out here hiking." He said, "Well, I just wanted to check and make sure you weren't the one out here shooting" and gave me a friendly wave as to say I'm good to go. I waved back, turned around and walked away. Not sure what that was all about, but aside from having me get out and all that, he was cool and nicely mannered.
When I got back to the truck, my friend says, "Instead of getting out, you should've just yelled out the window, 'You have a really nice mustache?!!" In hindsight, I kinda wish I had, but I was really just trying to remember the last time I was pulled over. Must've been at least 20 years ago.
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