The Ohio Journey Begins

After only five days in California, we set sail (or wheel) eastward bound, embarking on another cross-country trip for peace and voter registration! We were hardly out of the bay area on I-80 before we were pulled over by a state trooper. Officer Root approached the truck from the passenger side and commenced a laborious process of intrigue that can only be described as stupendously hilarious. He cited that we had not pulled over to the weigh station and asked us what we were hauling. Sam said that this was a truck used for her antique business, but that currently we were going to register voters, so it was not commercial, and she informed him that when she had gone to the weigh station in the past, the police had laughed at her and said that it was totally unnecessary, given the truck’s size, use, and self-ownership. He then tried to say that Sam wasn’t wearing her seatbelt correctly. After that proved untrue and hence unticketable, he walked to the back end of the truck and kicked the tires, then cited our loose licence plate and asked what all the stuff in the front seat was, informing us that if we were to be in an accident, things would “go flying everywhere.” Sam told him she takes very good care of the truck, and his eyes rolled as he glanced at the paint job. He walked in front of the truck and asked what that strange plant on the dashboard was. We told him it was sage (though a wise crack about how we leaving marijuana to dry on the dash would have been fun) and he asked why we had it there. “Good karma,” Sam said. “Ah, karma,” he mused. “To keep away bad spirits,” Sam wanted to say. “Like you,” I would have added in. He wanted to know the details of our travels and he said, “So what, you’re volunteering?” like we had nothing better to do, and he called me Sam’s “assistant.” Ultimately, the cop and his assistant, who asked if we had any magnetic yellow or red white and blue ribbons, wrote up a warning for not going to the weigh station and they let us go, instructing us to slowly speed up as we reentered the highway, and saying something to the effect of: “You girls have a safe trip.” Yes, a state trooper called us girls. And he didn’t say be strong, or good work, he said, “be careful.” Be careful around up-to-no-good bored-out-of-their-minds on a hot afternoon swarmy state troopers is how I interpreted that one!
Once on the road again, we drove up into the sierras, which were extremely beautiful. All along the way we got lots of positives, including a pickup truck of young, white guys going camping. 74 yes’s in all for California, 4 nos, and 4 FUs. We crossed into Nevada in the late afternoon. I read The Revalations of Jesus Christ as we drove. We were two pages from the end- Chapter 22- when we stopped to sleep at a rest stop, and I think that this is why we had such an odd night of rest. In the middle of the night, Sam heard a vehicle pull up right next to us, and when she peered out of the truck, she could see an ATV trailer parked in the adjacent spot! She thought this was odd since the parking lot was huge and primarily vacant, so she went out to investigate, and talked with the driver, who was circling the truck, reading the sides. He pointed to the peace sign and said, “You want some money? I walked around the truck and knocked on the window, but nobody was there.” He gave Sam $7.00. She went back to sleep.