The Lint Killer

Ha !

So, i decided to leave Memphis last night around 7pm, just to get going and eat up a few hours of the long drive ahead. I didn’t get tired until around 11pm or so, which is when i decided to pull off the highway and stopped to check the map to see where would be a good spot to get a motel. I parked on a quiet side street and wasn’t even there 2 minutes when out of nowhere this Arkansas cop rolls up behind me with the blues flashing and the spotlight blinding me in the mirrors. Pissed me off coz he sat there for a full 3 minutes with the spotlight on before he made his way up beside me. Bear in mind i looked like a homeless knacker in my ‘96 Isuzu with the back full of all sorts of shite half covered over with the sheets from our bed (Angie and Liam are flying out, wednesday). I hadn’t shaved in 3 days and was wearing an old ratty looking t-shirt coz i hadn’t bothered changing after packing and doing the final clean-up on the apartment, i was so eager to get on with it and get going. The fact that the car was stinking of burnt oil just completed the meth-head picture for our good friend on law enforcement (i had no funnel when i was topping up the oil, so some of it spilled on the engine block).

When he got up beside me , more blinding ensued with his flashlight fixed on my face in confrontation mode. He informed me that my engine was burning up and could i not see the vapor rising. I informed him that i couldn’t see anything due to various 1,000,000 Lumen bulbs trained directly on my face and proceeded to tell him the oil top-up tale. He asked a few more questions and looked like he didn’t believe a word i told him. At one point i asked him if it was ok if i got out to double check the engine and when i did get out he patted me down for weapons (luckily enough i left me shillelagh in the suitcase). I got casual, coz i’d nothing to hide and hadn’t broken any laws, so i was answering some other question when i casually put my hand in my pocket out of habit. Well, he stepped back, his eyes got as big as saucers and he ordered me to take my hand out of my pocket ( for fear i’d batter him with some lint and a dollar bill, i suppose ).

It really didn’t bother me at the time, i could see how i might be viewed as a suspicious looking git, lurking around some Arkansas backwater late at night, but now that i think about it i wonder…………………………

Was that a legal search he did ?

and……..

There’s no law against putting your hand in your pocket when talking to an officer, is there? I mean, he had already patted me down so i’ll scratch me bollocks if i want, right ?

Aside from that, i did tell him a white lie though. He asked me had i ever been arrested for anything, to which i answered no. Good thing he doesn’t have a direct line to the Garda Shickoloni, that’s all i’ll say on that.

Today’s drive ( 9 hrs across Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas) was uneventful in comparison. Finally made it to New Mexico around 5 this evening. I took some pics

::here::

I am currently blogger in residence at the Holiday Inn near Tucumcari, NM.

I can see a mountain out my window.

I’m happy.