California State Line
As I approached the California border on I-40 from Arizona at Needles, I had no choice but to pull over into the right lane where I found myself in a line-up of cars. When it was my turn, I came up to a small booth and a table. A tall uniformed guard stepped out of the booth and directed me to park alongside the table. He did not ask for my license, registration or any form of ID. He did not ask me to get out of the car.
He gave my car a hairy eyeball, eyes searching in the front and back seats. Then he lowered his voice, raised his eyebrows menacingly and asked suspiciously,
“Got any fruit?”
“Well, I have an apple and an orange?,” I answered with a question.
“May I see them please?”
I reached into my cooler and handed him my afternoon snack. He examined them meticulously, set them on the table and proceeded to hack them to smithereens with a butcher’s knife. He kept a nasty look on his face--I felt like a criminal….
He finished, then dumped the remains of my snack into a bucket. He cheerfully spoke, “Have a nice trip!”, handing me a map of California. He did not search my cooler or anything else in, on, or under my car. He did not look in the trunk.
I could have carried any number of illegal items across the state line. The only thing that bothered him was my 1 apple and 1 orange….
Interesting. Iv vaguely heard of rules regarding the taking of fruit in and out of CA. It may have to do with carrying a fruit borne disease into CA.??? Given that they produce so much of our fruit it makes sense there would b extra bureaucratic measures taken to "police" it. Great illustration!!! :-)