Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The Latest

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

This is the auditorium of one of the schools I do in the valley.  This was my third year here.  Always a pleasure but I'm not allowed to take pictures with people in the room.  So you get an idea of what it might look like full of students.  This venue holds 500 students. 
 


 
I finished early only because the students had advisory day.  They had to vote on a homecoming queen.  I'm glad that had priority over a course that helps prepare them for life not to mention the fact that the parents paid a pretty penny for the course.   Advisory is mandatory. 
 
I went to FedX to send my reports and then went to the warehouse for more materials for Wednesday and Thursday.   500 sets fit in the SUV but with little room for anything else.  I headed back to the rv park and said my goodbyes.  I hooked up and headed for Corpus.   I passed through the checkpoint and they asked the big question, "are you a U.S. citizen?"  I rolled down the backseat window and stuck his head in, laughed and said, "high school prep course!"
 
As I pulled in to Kingsville, Tx the moon made a wonderful appearance.   Too bad I didn't have time to stop.  The sun was behind me and the moon in front of me.  Truly a sight to see.


A short story about my trip home from Corpus on Monday.   On highway 77 south, I saw two highway patrolmen in cars talking and then an unmarked car pulled up next to them.   I never turned my head to look at them but I have that instinct.   Sure enough, about two minutes later an unmarked Crown Victoria is about 200 meters behind me.  After another minute it is beside me but in my blind spot.   So I tap the breaks to release the cruise control and the car pulls behind me and then accelerates.  I thought for sure he was going to hit me when his lights came on.   I pulled over and rolled down the windows.
 
He came up on the passenger side and asked in his poorest Spanish for my "tarjeta de circulacion" or title and my license.  He then said that he pulled me over because I had a tag from the rv park hanging from the rear view mirror and that was illegal in Texas.   He said he would just give me a warning if I took it off.  He asked me what I was doing and what was in the boxes and I explained.   He said again that he was just giving me a warning.  I then asked him if he wanted to see the car title and he said, "nah, don't worry about it" and he handed me my license and walked away.  I wondered, "what about the title, don't you want to see the car title?"   Obviously he thought he had caught someone with something.  It isn't illegal to have an ID tag hanging from your mirror.  An invented violation for which there was no formal warning.  Imagine what Mexicans go through traveling in the U.S.  Abuse and discrimination.
 
Sorry Junior, just an old English teacher with a bunch of books!


2 comments:

  1. The last I heard it is illegal to have anything hanging from a rear view mirror in many states - obscured vision - heard this for 50 years to way back when hot-rods would hang big dice from the mirror.

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  2. Okay, I guess it was just my lucky day. Since that time I have kept track of all the cars with some ID card hanging from the rear view mirror. I stand by my reasoning. I was selectively chosen because of the type of car and plates. There is a reason on every trip I make north of the border without the trailer. These guys have an agenda.

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