Denver to Asuncion

Part 1: Denver to LA
Left unseasonabally warm Denver Thanksgiving at 11 pm. It was 70 during the day and 52 driving until I began to get in the Rockies. Passing through Vail I contemplated stopping at JC Penny's for black Friday when I saw only 10 cars in the parking lot but continued to press on. A little while later at about 1:30-2:00 I see red lights in the mirror The cop that looks like he just got out of high school comes up and asks me how fast I was going, I am not going to tell him.... having just toggling the map so he could not see my max speed, so I said I am not sure. He asked me what the speed limit was there and I said '65 or 75'. He proceeded to tell me limit from Eagle to DIA is 65 with some stretches of 55 and I was doing 80. He takes my info and comes back a minute later and begins lecturing me to which all I really here is blah, blah, blah while I am thinking that he cannot be half my age which would put him just out of college. The one thing I did hear was that when he first saw me the limit was 65 but where we are now it is 75 (so really I am only 5 mph over the limit). He then proceeds to give me a warning and lets me go. In CO a warning is documented by the officer so I turn on the cruise control and take it easy the rest of the way knowing there is no second warning tonight. Pretty uneventful rest of the night, a couple of rest stop power naps and make decent time. The people driving from Vegas to LA are idiots!!! At the agricultural stop I answered the usual questionabout fruits and vegetables with no and the guy looks in my truck and asks if I have firewood, to which I reply yes, we are going camping in Baja. He discusses this with his coworkers and I ask if he wants me to oull over to let the other cars through to which his response was 'they can wait'! He asks if it is ok for him to grab it and put it on his table and I tell him there is wasy more than will fit on the table, how about if I get out of the way because I would not want to be stuck in that line. They get me over to the side and we empty 4 days worth of nice split logs from my truck. Oh well! Stop in Barstow to get CA gasoline sticker shock and an In-N-Out burger for me and the boys and make it to Claremont about 4:30. A little last minute shopping and rest today and on to Asuncion tomorrow!

I too am happy for the lack of snow, been there done that! i do the drive a couple of times a year, the 11 pm start time coincided more with my nap after Thanksgiving dinner than anything else. I usually leave from work somewhere between 10 am to 2 pm, without the turkey dinner I probably would have left Wednesday afternoon. When I lived in CA I was always wved through, now with CO plates I am always stopped but this is the first time I was delayed, just thought a nice fire on the beach sounded like fun

If customs had got a look at your fire wood I think you'd have been out of luck there too. I was almost turned around for 6 sheets of 3/4 plywood that were un-used but had been weathered outdoors. NO USED WOOD. Bugs! Cost me a chunk of change that trip, but it averaged out in the end.

He might have just been a hard case, and it could also have been because at that hour of the AM the office appeared to be closed. He happily collected Mexico's import duty and with a bonus!

I am sooooo envious of you!!!!

[Edited on 11-29-2011 by vgabndo]