My Road Trip Encounter with a Cop!

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I’m going to do this one backwards: before I tell you the story, I’m just going to go ahead and tell you the morals.

1. Life is awesome - smile along the way.

2. Lying is useless - besides, the truth is funnier.

3. You get what you give - so give away positivity.

So, because I had an interview at 2:00 pm in Charlottesville yesterday, I was a little behind schedule. Not that I have a schedule, but mentally I wasn’t as far along as I expected to be. After the interview, I literally changed clothes, said good-bye to Jamie who was the only one around, and got on the road. My goal was to get as far as I could in order to make the drive to Chicago today (Thursday) as short as possible. The only place I wanted to see along the way was the Canaan Valley area in West Virginia.

It was a beautiful drive all along the way. I saw the leaves changing colors in front of my
eyes and attempted to take drive-by photos of the passing landscape. The Garmin GPS unit is amazing. Thank you to my mom and dad for talking me into getting that! Being able to get off the highways and see the small towns is 1000 times easier with the GPS unit.

So, I’m strolling along, grab a quick bite to eat, hit my 2nd wind and cruise right along through midnight. I figure that I might as well sleep while it’s dark, because it’s going to be difficult when the Sun comes up. I’ve decided that I’m going to sleep in my car to save a little money (I’ll talk about my budget later when I have a little time). I slept in my car many nights while driving through New Zealand, so it’s not a problem to me and I feel like I have a good idea of how to find safe spots.

Driving through a small town a little after midnight I start scanning the side roads for a good spot to sleep. Eventually I find a coffee shop and “Dutch House” next to each other with a few empty cars parked out front. When sleeping in your car, it’s good to be somewhere inconspicuous (other cars around is good). But, you don’t want to look suspicious. Parking in a neighborhood is inconspicuous, because you expect cars there, but it can look suspicious because neighbors will call the cops on a car they don’t recognize. Parking in public areas is good because less people feel they have the authority to call the cops on a car parked there, but you have to be careful of signs that specifically say ‘no parking’ or ‘no loitering’.

So I drive around this coffee shop to look for a dark spot to park. I find one in between the two buildings in a parking space. There is one light coming through my driver’s side window, but I easily block that by hanging up my sleeping bag liner in the window. Ah! All set. Got my pillow, recline my seat, kick off my shoes, and catch some Z’s.

Well I hadn’t been a sleep for more than hour, when I’m startled awake by a knocking on my window. There’s a bright light shining in my car, so I know it’s a cop. It takes me a second to remember where I am - I was pretty deep asleep. I make some inaudible loud noise, maybe like a “Huh?!” and the cop responds, “open up the door please.” I peel back my curtain, and open up the door to a local police officer shining his flashlight in my eyes.

Immediately he asks, “You sleeping here?”

His tone isn’t completely negative, so I respond, “Yes sir.”

“You just passing through?”

“Yes sir.” I say unable to hold back the slightest bit of excitement in my voice about driving cross country.

“Where you headed?”

“Chicago.”

“For what?”

“Visiting a few friends there.”

“Then where you headed?”

“Ultimately to California, sir.”

“What’re you going to do there?”

“Look for a job.”

“In anything you can get, huh?” I’m starting to notice a bit of wanderlust in his voice. I wonder if my sleeping in a car in his town, passing through on a long trip West, somehow evokes the fantasies he once had when he was younger. Maybe when he was not tied down with the responsibilities of a respectable, ‘normal’ life, he used to dream of packing everything up and just following the arc of the Sun not knowing where it would take him, but knowing that the adventure would be worth it. With his last question, I can almost see the glint in his eye betraying his past longings of wanderlust.

There’s no need for me to tell him anything but the truth. (Besides, I’m a plumber - and plumbers only speak the truth.) “Actually, sir, I’m hoping to get a job in solar.”

“That’s smart. Get in while it’s still young and growing. Smart choice.” I just look at him with a smile. “You have your driver’s license?”

“Yes sir.” I hand him my driver’s license and after about 10 minutes he returns to my car.

“Well, you don’t have anything on your record, and I’m not going to hassle you. I don’t mind you sleeping in your car. Maybe you should park around front though. We’ve had some burglaries here lately, and I don’t want you to get mixed up with that. When are you planning on leaving?”

“When the Sun comes up.”

“Okay, that’s good. These workers will be coming in here early to start baking bread for breakfast. Okay. So just park around front. Here’s your license.”

And like that, the two of us went about our business - him, protecting his town from strangers and potential crime, and me catching some shut-eye in a small town on my way to Chicago.

Nothing I was doing was wrong. My conscience was clear and I kept it so, by telling the truth the whole time. I have nothing to hide and am ashamed of nothing I’ve done or plan to do. This is how I live my life, and this is why I believe that cop chose not to hassle me.

All you need to do is enjoy yo-self!

(you can find more Road Trip '08 Stories at www.sroeco.com)

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