I was driving down HWY 94 the other day when I found this great little pullout overlooking some ranches and farm houses so I decided to pull in and spend the day and maybe even boondock overnight. I hung around the area for the day washing some clothes, dishes, cleaning out the bus and working on the laptop. I actually picked up a wireless signal as well from somewhere in the valley which, while being weak, allowed me to take care of some online business. It was really a great little spot.

Around 5PM this guy rolls up on an ATV wearing camouflage pants and one of those minutemen t-shirts. He proceeds to tell me that it’s a dangerous place to camp as there are drug runners and illegals coming through the area at night and that just the previous night there had been a chase with the border patrol. Fine. I don’t want any trouble so I roll on out of there. At this point it’s kind of late though and I have nowhere to stay so I thought I’d head back towards the Otay Lakes area. Well, there are signs all around the lake stating that it’s closed everyday except Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Wierd, a closed lake. I guess I take too much for granted in Canada.

Now I’m stuck. The closest town is Chulla Vista, I’m low on gas and all the gas stations are closed so I decide to park somewhere for the night. Chulla Vista has a lot of money so there’s no way I’m staying in the residential area as they’d call the cops at the first sight of a VW bus, let alone having one parked overnight, so I look for the business district. I find a small parking lot tucked far away from everything way in the back area behind a warehouse and decide to hang there for the night. Around 1AM I’m just finishing up some work on the laptop when the FUZZ pulls up. Shit.

I get out of the bus, hands in plain sight and try to explain what I’m doing there when the cop barks at me to sit down on the “van” and put my hands where he can see them. Well I’ve never had a runin with the law before so I’m pretty freaked out and I park it. He asks me what I’m doing there and I explain the whole thing. Where am I coming from? Where am I going? All of it. Then he asks me if I’ve ever been arrested. Hell no. Do I have any weapons? No. Do I have any guns? No, I’ve never even fired a gun! How about knives? Ummmm….steak knives in the bus. Then he asks if he can search me. Not wanting any trouble I tell him to go ahead. Now this freaked me out. I had to turn around while he put my hands behind my back and made sure I didn’t move my hands by holding a finger from each hand in one of his hands and patting me down with the other. Left side right side. Thanks for the reach around officer but could you buy me a drink next time?

Now he tells me to sit on the curb, cross my legs and keep my hands where he can see them. He asks is he can search the “van”. Again, being extra freaked out I tell him to go ahead and take it for a drive if he wants. Then his partner shows up and they have a little whisper session over by their cars. Bad cop decided to go about searching my bus while the other fellow comes over and plays good cop. Turns out he is a pretty decent fellow and that his parents had restored a 1963 bug back in the day that his brother drives. He wishes he had my job and also tells me that the people in San Diego and Chulla Vista are all assholes. I wholeheartedly disagree telling him that I’ve received nothing but hospitality and kindness since hitting Southern California.

Anyway, after all was said and done and nothing had come back from HQ regarding my identity they told me it was all good. I told them that I’d bail and go find somewhere else to stay to which they said no, it was cool for me to spend the night there and that they patrol every now and then so I’d be safe. Yikes! Safe from what? Them? I hung around until about 5:30, found a MacDonalds for a cup of coffee and bailed the hell out of there back to my quiet little bluff where I slept for a few hours before heading north.

Why North? Well me bruthas and sistahs, I got to head back to Canada for a few months. I have so much to do with regards to the DVD I’ve been shooting, the website and some mods to the bus that I need a homebase for a little while. Not to mention that I’m short on dosh and don’t want to be left in the lurch whilst in Mexico.

Right now I’m in this funky little place called Slab City outside of Niland by the Salton Sea. It used to be a military base back in the day and when it was deserted there were all these concrete slabs left over. Eventually RVers started pulling in there and while the town boasts a population of about 1000, Slab City increases that by 10 fold each year. It’s like a Burning Man for retired people but there are more than just RVers out here. Anyway, I’ll be hanging here for a few days to a week and then I’m rolling North to Winnipeg to see family and then to Calgary to work and get some more bones in the bank so that I can do this again in a few months time. I’m setting my next departure date for the Burning Man festival in about 4 to 5 months time and will be heading to the Baja from there and then on and into Mexico.

My homeward route is taking me up the I15 though Nevada, Utah and Idaho before hitting the 94 East through Montanna, North Dakota and along the border with Minnesota and into Canada. If any of you are along that route send me a PM and perhaps we can hook up for a beer and admire each others busses.

Sorry for the length of this message but who knows when I’ll hit the Internet again. Thanks also to everyone on the board for watching the vids, offering to help, for actually helping and for all the kind words. It’s everyone on thesamba that’s given me the confidence to keep on doing this. Cheers,

Scott and Dante