an encounter with the police in the Texas panhandle

In January of 2015 my employer had me drive to New Mexico, to assist one of our teams in the field. Their dually pickup was being repaired, and I drove down in another dually pickup -which they would use to move the trailer to the next jobs... In other words I was going to be sticking around for a few days.  I stayed 3 nights in the Zia Park Casino hotel in Hobbs, New Mexico.  I had a rental car: an orange Camaro...which was a free upgrade, because it was there.  

Hobbs is the pointer on the map.... yes that close to Mexico... people in northern Illinois think that seems like the perfect kind of place to go in the winter, right?  Except that I have a weird history with these trips to the southern U.S. in winter time... that's right: it snowed.  That is not all that strange to the folks who live in New Mexico, ..it was January after all. 

After a few days I got the truck that was being serviced back, so I headed north and made my way to Hereford, Texas,... which was town that had suitable overnight accommodations -nearest to the jobs where the techicians needed to be.  Okay, that is why I was in the Texas panhandle....

I met the technicians in Bovina (lower left corner of map), and we discussed the condition of their dually pickup truck, which I had returned to them the previous day.  It was decided that all was good with the vehicle repairs, and I could begin the drive back to northern Illnois.

I set out on US Highway 60, headed toward Hereford.  I did not get far.  I was somewhere between Friona and Summerfield when I saw a state trooper heading in the opposite direction. Well, he saw me too....  I was not speeding, that's what cruise control is for!  But he made the turn around on the divided highway, and came after me with lights flashing.  I pulled over, stopped the truck, and opened the center console to retrieve the truck documentation.  This was a DOT registered vehicle, normally used to pull a trailer weighing more than 20,000lbs. 

As the officer approached I rolled down the window and held the documentation and my driver's license ready.  And the office looked at me, and his face fell just a little bit, and he stammered... 
right. I did nothing wrong, and he knew immediately that he had made a slight error. 
So, he stammered,...he did not know what to say! He looked at the documentation and handed all of it back to me, including my CDL driver's license.  And then he said something about my truck not having mud flaps on it.  I pointed out the fifth wheel hitch and stated that there was usually, nearly always, a trailer attached, so mud flaps would not be a necessity.  Ok,... then he mentioned the spare tire, which was bolted in place, but did appear to be back rather far in the bed of the truck.  In all honesty it does look like it is going to fall out. (I am almost certain that the person who bolted it down did it that way on purpose.).... I told the officer: "it's bolted down, go ahead and take a look.."

No, no, that was fine, but he needed to write me a notice about the mud flaps.  Fine, it's only a notice, not a ticket, because I DID NOTHING wrong.  All polite and everything, he gives me the notice, and I drive away.  And I go directly to the nearest dealership, in Hereford, and go into the service department, where the fellows there all laugh out loud when I ask about mud flaps.  They inquire, "police pull you over, ma'am?"  and they all laugh again.  They tell me that "drug runners" use big, white, dually pickup trucks, and they run drugs along US Highway 60.

Wow. So the state trooper saw a white, dually pickup truck.  He saw a driver with long hair.  He thought he was going to make a big drug bust.  BUSTED!! that explains why he stammered, and "mud flaps" really? No. not at all. So, I climbed back into the dually pickup truck and went on my way.

That was my only encounter with the police in Texas to date.

I didn't see these guys while I was in Texas man.....