So as part of the holiday excitement on Sunday we went on a driving tour of Organ Pipe National Monument and saw lots of cactus and other desert stuff, after that we drove to Lukeville on the Arizona - Mexico border to look at birds and see the wall that is now seperating the two countries. After we saw the wall and the birds we drove back north towards Ajo (me driving our rented Ford Explorer) and about 5 miles north of the border I saw flashing red and blue lights in the rear view mirror. So I pulled over and got my IPod ready and when the border patrol agent came to my window I said "Hi" and then Beth who was in the passenger seat said "Barry has a speech problem and uses this machine to talk. The officer said "OK, we pulled you over because we get suspicious when people drive to the border and then don't cross and your vehicle has no licence plate" (it has a sticker in the window but the windows are dark so he couldnt see it). So Beth told him that we were bird watching and he said "OK, are you US citizens?" Beth said "No, Canadian" and he said "Oh, Ok I assume you all (our friends Bob and Linda and their dog were in the back seat) have the proper documents? We said yes and he sent us on our way. Linda said to me that in the ten years that they have wintered here (they are from Hinton) they have never been pulled over and I told her that it was just my luck.
There are signs all over here that say watch out for illegal immigration and smuggling and today Beth and Bob saw some illegals being rounded up by fish and wildlife officers. You have to be really desperate to try to cross 50+ miles of this desert landscape, even in February it wouldn't be fun.
More adventure awaits! 8)
