The Maine Train Busted

Question: “Where you guys coming from?”
Answer: “Maine.”
Question: “Today?”
Answer: “Yes. Today. Ass.”

Okay, maybe the exchange did not go quite like that. But the officer who pulled us over did ask us if we left Maine today. Really? How about the fact that he asked us where we were going when the sign for the Grand Canyon on the off-ramp to the Grand Canyon was right in front of us. It was one of those moments where I wish that I had the stones to respond “Out to the desert to bury the body in the trunk”. Alas, I did not. I was not driving. So we ended up with a ticket for traveling between 15 and 20 miles over the 75 mile per hour speed limit (This would be pursuant to Section 28-70102A3 of the Arizona Penal Code for those of you keeping score at home). At any rate Officer 5920 was not an entire douche, but a little. He threw out the “You know you could be arrested for going that fast.” Really? You could be arrested for being such an ass. Okay, again not really said, but we should have!

Other than the run in with office friendly, who let the record show, is only the second cop that we have seen since Oklahoma City (such is our shitty luck), today has been largely uneventful. Driving through New Mexico was awesome. The weather was perfect and driving through in between the plateaus and mountains was beautiful. It was crazy to think that we were ranging from 5000-7000 feet above sea level along the drive and there were still mountains which towered over every thing reaching up several thousand more feet. Believe when I say that I am a true lover of hiking in Maine and am devoted to the Maine 500 and all the great natural wonders that Maine offers. But these mountains out here… yikes. It would be like comparing Bradbury Mountain to Mt. Katahdin. It was pretty breathtaking.

As far as Arizona goes, I call “Shenanigans!” on this state for not partaking in the joys and wonders of Day Light Savings Time. Not only did it mess up our universe in terms of scheduling ourselves and our time line (which is changing hour-to-hour at this point) but it also had the nerve to give us a speeding ticket.

I must add that one thing that I will take away from this trip forever, is how many different varieties and flavors of “nothing” that we have seen. As we move further and further west, it always changes. There is always nothing, but it is a different nothing. And I must hand it to Arizona in this regard. They have had by far the widest range of nothing that we have seen yet. Wide expanses of fields, huge swaths of brown arid dessert, massive sections of deep Mars like red rock, deep impenetrable forests, huge snow covered mountains, there has been a lot of nothing to see and that is actually pretty cool.