Old School Arizona

[Sforza]

I was an OTR truck driver, and know the road from Miami to I- 40 thru the Salt river Canyon.
It is beautiful their, but that's a place that can be real FUN coming out of the copper mine in Miami with 46000lbs of Copper plates, better be in the CORRECT gear for sure.

In a Semi its a little hared to get off the beaten trail, but I have spent a little time in the pull offs for sure.
My wife is an amateur Photographer, and drove w/Me 10 of My 18yrs.
She has a flkr acct. with 8000+ photos.
I know She took a bunch in the Salt River Canyon, I will have to go find some to share.

Thanks for letting Me crash your party.
Man I just LOVE that HIGH desert On the north end of that trip.
Love it over round Flagg. too.

Peace; 1TT

I have made the trip from Globe to up the Salt River Canyon quite a few time, but only as far as 60 where I headed east to Texas.

One time I did it over the Christmas Holidays and I hit snow. The entire state of New Mexico was snowed in. The road had a couple inches of ice on it so I took it a little easy, even though the road was straight. A nice new BMW passed me, moving along a good clip. A couple hours later I passed him, since he had spun off the road and was stuck on the shoulder.

On that trip, when I crossed the Rio Grande, it was really beautiful since the weather conditions were such that the trees on the bank of the river were coated with ice and there were lots of tiny ice crystals floating in the air, reflecting the sunlight.

But even going the southern route is no guarantee that one is going to be able to avoid bad weather. Coming back to Texas after a visit, I headed down to I-10 and East. It started snowing at about 10:00 PM in El Paso and I considered stopping for the night, but decided to keep going because I thought that there was no way that the snow was going to be able to stick.

The flakes were so big and falling so fast that I could hardly see the road. Then the road got bad with the snow sticking. I stopped at the last rest stop right before the immigration checkpoint on I-10 to the East of El Paso. I ended up spending the night in the back of my pickup truck under the cap. I had a heavy duty sleeping bag so I was not cold.

When I work up the next morning there was six inches of snow on the ground. I headed out and along the way I saw a lot of cars and trucks that had gone off the road in the night and were stuck.

I had to go slowly because the road had not been cleared. It was OK as long as you were in the slow lane and keep your wheels in the two groves that had been worn into the snow, but when I came up on a slower vehicle it was hairy getting out in the fast lane and getting around the other vehicle.

As miserable as I was, I felt relatively comfortable when I saw two guys on Harley's on the other side of the highway heading West.

The Salt River canyon is so impressive I wonder why you never hear anything about it on travel shows.

 

[Sforza]

I was at a 4th of july party this year, and I took the last half of a j outside to finish. I get it going and its got one go'round in It max its almost roch territory but definitely has 2-3 in it left. I handed it to a buddy who isn't hardpressed for things to incinerate...and he looks at me goes "why you gonna waste my time with this shit" and chunks it in the yard whilest it still had 2-3 left. well another dude I just met that night goes "ah man I woulda taken that" and tried to look for it but its dark as shit at this point. I go in and grab one more brew before bouncing, and on the way out I decide to give the dude who tried finding the cocarocha a fresh new j for his non-wasteful spirit. Well I go up to him and at this point kinda throwed so my words come out jumbled and Im like" here man this is for you trying to be non wasteful or I mean having a good nonwaste spirit and trying to find the..." and he cuts me off and goes "this" and opens up his hand to reveal the lil roch. then he says "ya man I used one of those little yard night light things that was staked in the ground and scowered the yard and found it!" He definitely deserved it.

Waste not, want not!

 

[1TWISTEDTRUCKER]

Yup The Wife and I were heading East Outta Flagg. Late Spring, and as is normal at altitude it was snowing Ballz out, same thing 25Mph in the right lane and I had no prob. doing 30Mph in the left (Bad) lane and 45 once back in the right, and in the MIDDLE of that bumper to bumper snow packed traffic,,, Yup a Full Dresser Harley, with 2 bundled up Human shapes.
Man that's HARD CORE! My Ass would of been stopping at Little America, and waiting that shit out,,, FO SHO. Guess IMA BIG weenie.lol

 

[1TWISTEDTRUCKER]

Ocelot spotted in AZ

who knew...

Link: http://azgfd.net/artman/publish/New...ifies-ocelot-sighting-in-Cochise-County.shtml

Wow that's sweet.
Are'nt those native to Central American Countries.
I guess I can Google it, but that seems correct,,,
That is if I remember what Merlin Perkins said back when.

Yup wife just checked home range, and ya South, Central Am.
And Mexico.
I didn't know Mex. had um though, So it makes since a few would make it into AZ.

I say the more Big Cats The better, cause if thers enough to sustain more Apex Preds. is a good sign.

The Cougar sitings here in Iowa are increasing, The DNR tries to keep this on the Down Low, Though I don't know WHY.
Outta site Outta mind,,, I guess.

Peace; 1TT

 

[Apache Kush]

Yeah it must have come up via Mexico or further down.
There was this sighting/picture.
The link explains there was a dead Ocelot on the road near Globe some time ago.

We have ringtails too in AZ, not as rare but still cool.
Just another jungle dweeller that sometimes comes north.
See if I can dig up a link on ringtails.

 

[1TWISTEDTRUCKER]

Bring on ALL the APEX Predators, Im lonely at THE TOP. Heheh.

Hey do Cougars generaly eat Coyote, or do they maostly stick to
slower critters, come to think of it,,, We have had an explosion in Wild Turkeys.

These dam Turkeys stomp Pheasnt, and Quail nest,, just as a survival method.
They realize that dead Pheasant, and Quail CAN NOT compete w/them for food.
Really pretty smart, but still Our Pheasant, and Quail pop. are WAy Low compared to 30Yrs ago, B4 our DNR traded for some Wild Turkey from Penna. I Believe it was,,The meddeling PRICKS.

Big Cats Rule.

Peace;1TT

 

[Apache Kush]

The Ocelot sightings in AZ, might just mean the habitat in Northern Mexico got ruined. Maybe farms or development or lack of prey. Happy hunting grounds in AZ though haha.

I don't know about lions taking yotes' do a goggle maybe it happens.

However, I have seen desert turtles in the G&F lion prey surveys,
the lions crack the shells like peanuts and get in to the meat haha.

 

[1TWISTEDTRUCKER]

Ya,,, I gave that a thought for a moment last night.
With The Cartell violence, Commercial scale Meth labs, and all around dis regard for the laws,, other than the Law OF The Jungle mentality that comes with the GREED that drives the Cartells, and their GREEDY Politicians/Military.

The environment very probably has been destroyed.
Not to mention the Whole SW has been in DROUGHT For at least a decade, I can see Natural causes tooo.

Sorry for the Slightly Off Topic Rant,,, It just SICKINS Me.

Peace;1TT

 

[Madjag]

The Crow and the Pitcher

For weeks and weeks there had been no rain. The streams and pools had dried to dust, and all of the animals were thirsty. Two crows, flying together in search of water, spotted a pitcher that had been left on a garden wall. They flew to it and saw that it was half full of water. But neither one could reach far enough inside the pitcher's narrow neck to get a drink.

"There must be a way to get that water," said the first crow. "If we think it through, we'll find an answer."

The second crow tried to push the pitcher over, straining with all of his might. But it was too heavy to budge. "It's hopeless!" he croaked, and flew away to look for water elsewhere.

But the first crow stayed by the pitcher and thought, and after a time he had an idea. Picking up some small pebbles in his beak, he dropped them one by one into the pitcher until at last the water rose to the brim. Then the clever bird happily quenched his thirst.

Wisdom and patience succeed where force fails.

One of Aesop's Fables

 

[paper thorn]

It got to 119 degrees the other day. I stepped outside of the shop to go home and a dove was a couple feet away from me and he started to walk away. There is a water faucet right there by the door, so I turned it on and ran some water on to the cement. He turned and came back and got a big drink where the water pooled. His thirst and the heat overcame his fear of me.

The birds and coyotes have plenty of water around here usually because of irrigated fields. But that water moves from field to field. A bird can easily find himself with no water and die. Go out into the desert just a few miles away and it's tough going for the critters. Even on the farms the coyotes look pretty scraggly right now.

In spite of the hot spike to 119, it's been a cool summer. Of course when you call 105 cool, you know you live in one of the hottest places on Earth.

 

[Apache Kush]

Recent Ringtail sighting at Canyon Lake, AZ via my fishing contacts blog



must be thirsty!

 

[Apache Kush]

Canyon X: What do you think Madjag, potential or to high in elevation its 6-7 thousand feet so late Nov. is around first freeze/snows ;0

 

[Madjag]

Apocalyptic......Unless the canyon in the photo is far from the nearest Jeep trail and a long walk to reach the photo spot, it looks to have inviting access.

For me the first rule was a remote canyon that seldom had visitors, including the rim above. It's a difficult bill to fill because it means that the drive and hike access will take 3+ hours each way if it's a quality spot. That's what it takes for a secure, remote spot in my experience.

New problem: since the early 80's, hunters, ranchers, F.S employees, you name it, have been phoning in to authorities about suspicious vehicles parked in the same remote spot week after week. They could be poachers, local lovers, drug importers, growers, who knows. Our remedy in our last harvest years was to pay someone every week to drop us off and pick us up at a particular spot on the nearest dirt road that was car-capable, not just 4x4.

Earlier one of my partners used a motorcycle that could be tucked away under a large juniper tree. I actually used a bicycle for several rides into my area on a Jeep trail, basically walking it on the way out because it was all up hill and the mountain bike did not exist yet. I used a small BMX. For a change it beat hiking 5 miles because i didn't have a 4x4 at the time.

The Jerome Guild of growers used to park their vehicle at the end of a remote Jeep trail week after week. 5-0 got wind of it, probably from some nosy hunters, and raan the plates. The truck was registered to someone in Jerome. The policia merely watched and waited until harvest time when the boys took their harvest back to town and bingo! The doors kicked in and a "record" bust took place. We had already been using our drop-off method for over a year when that happened and looked at each other with big sighs of comfirmation: you can't use too much security when it comes to choosing your spot and figuring your access.

Oh yeah, we never, ever left footprints in dirt or sand at the bottom of our canyon. It made it totally clear to tell if the canyon bottom had been hiked or visited. Two times in 4 years we found footprints, once that tracked back to a helicopter landing in a tiny clearing (still don't know why) and the other turned out to be a hippie on a 5-day mega hike. By pure chance my partner, on his way in to "work", picked him up on a highway where he was hitch-hiking, saw his backpack and camp gear, and asked him where he had been. Voila!

 

[Apache Kush]

Hey Jag,
.

I understand the car issue is important. Very helpful info Madjag an all important tip I will heed.

Reminds me of this ex-navy guy I met here once a few summers back. He appeared one day from thin air as I was casting and he kind of spooked me as I thought I was alone on the water until he showed up from up the lake, around a dogleg bend few seldom travel because its flanked on all sides by step rim canyons along the lake shore, walking would be futile at best. Also, very little boat pressure as nobody hikes their canoes the 3/4 -1 mile down steep rock trail to the water egdes and if they do they leave it there all season and carry it back up once the place closes down. Most fisherman kick around in belly boats and floatstubes and dont get to the interior of this rather large body of water. Anyways, he paddled his canoe up to me and after a minute of small talk we smoked a few bowls of my seedless sensi herb and then he offered to give me a ride in the canoe to the middle of the lake were the is less, no scratch that, no people or pressure and I could continue cast a line and check out his camp. I agree to go on the portage as I seldom see anyone here, let alone a full blown stoner friendly guy who was good conversation and liked to party. Plus on a side note I cuaght my first ever fish on the fly in his canoe that evening!

He shared some of his stash bag. It was seed riddled Flagstaff regular bud; ok stuff but he really enjoyed my chronic I brought along. Think that is why he fancied me. We had to sit out a 3 pm thunderstorm that is a regular event this time of year up there. You can literally set your watch to the daily sprinkles. His make shift base camp consisted of not a whole lot. Only a tarp pulled between a few trees, a few supplies, and a water filter. The camp was in a nice tucked away corner in the middle of the lake far from anything or anyone. Which impressed me and got my gears going..

He was retired Navy like I was saying. On a disability pension, so he didn't have to work the rest of his natural life. Apparently, he did a few tours in the jungles of some Central American shit hole. Fighting and tracking down well armed drug cartels coke ops or something like that maybe spraying Agent Orange I don’t know exactly. Pretty heavy shit, and this all explained his remote camp. This part of the Arizona back country was probably like Disney Land compared to Columbia or Nicaragua or where ever he was. He told me how he qoute, ''got fat all winter in Flagstaff and then would stay and live wild on the lake all summer''. All on the government dime no less PRETTY NICE GIG. At one point he showed me his surgery scar on his entire upper torso. Turns out he wasn't bullshiting on the well armed part! The scar was a foot or so long and had fragmentation burns from a rocket propelled grenade launcher or R.P.G.

Also, he explained he was ''droped off'' by a friend. Interesting eh Magjag?? So he had no vehicle. No way to resupply until a set rendevous; in two weeks he said. Maybe he planned to hitch in via stangers like me. Cause he did ask me to drive him into the nearest town to get some more food and shit. It was just a little weird not knowing the guy at all. Given his speacial forces background I didn't want to get carjacked lol. He did hike up and pay me a visit in my camp. Rather neighborly lol. I think he was still fishing for a ride into a town. I packed up at the end of the weekend and that was that. Hope to see him again sometime but I haven't had time or money to fish lately..

Anyways, after fishing a bit and joy riding the canoe on the way back to my trailhead to get back up the hill to my ''normal peolple'' campsite lol. I noticed and he pointed out some 3-5 inch youngling/premature cannabis seedlings in the rocks along the shore. Interesting… Not a good spot or a pro grow by any means, far from it. It was really a joke or amateur work as it was only around the corner from the end of the main trailhead ; where people do fish if they bothered to walk the shore half a day or so. More than likely it was some local kids who were partying, got lazy and just threw some bag seed in the hopes it might take off. So I asked him if that’s why he was camped out like this in the backwoods? Given his experience and background. I was actually just fishing for a comment, a good story or whatever he might say in his response. He said qoute, ''He did not know anything about that.'' Standard response but I wasn't buying it.

However, after all that I didn't believe he was just some random old hermit Ben Kenobi type. He sure as hell wasn't much of a fisherman as his gear was shitty and he offered to give me a lot of his poorly tied flys and some junky spinners. So that rules out outdoorsman lol. I was leaning more towards old Flagstaff hippie type or crazy veteran. I figured he had a purpose and was babysitting a grow nearby.

Let me know if what you think or any tips and tricks etc.
Maybe this all rings a bell and you know this old timer lol its a small world now a days.

Total Ben Kenobi vibe, just kind of wandered into my day out of the dunes like Old Ben!
Well, minus my fathers light saber and a jedi robe. ;0

 

[wolfhoundaddy]

beat feet

beat feet

Back in the late 70's the local cops got wind of a grow going on up on Granite Mtn.. They all hustled up there and tried to walk up to the growers camp, nestled up against an 'unscaleable cliff'.
The young man traversed this cliff face in clear view of the revenuers and beat feet to freedom. Lost his crop but lived to tell another day.
If you are out there bro, you are my hero.

 

[Madjag]

How ironic.....those of you who were members of Perse's Lab might find this doubly interesting, to other readers it will be more bizarre news on the NSA front. I have grabbed a bit of top cryptographer, security expert, and Congressional testifier, Bruce Schneier's, recent blog article. You can see it here in its entirety:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/08/lavabit_e-mail.html

Schneier on Security

A blog covering security and security technology.

August 9, 2013
Lavabit E-Mail Service Shut Down

Lavabit, the more-secure e-mail service that Edward Snowden -- among others -- used, has abruptly shut down. From the message on their homepage:

"I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot...."

This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would strongly recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.

In case something happens to the homepage, the full message is recorded here.

More about the public/private surveillance partnership. And another news article.

Also yesterday, Silent Circle shut down its email service:

We see the writing the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail now. We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now.

More news stories.

This illustrates the difference between a business owned by a person, and a public corporation owned by shareholders. Ladar Levison can decide to shutter Lavabit -- a move that will personally cost him money -- because he believes it's the right thing to do. I applaud that decision, but it's one he's only able to make because he doesn't have to answer to public shareholders. Could you imagine what would happen if Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page decided to shut down Facebook or Google rather than answer National Security Letters? They couldn't. They would be fired.

When the small companies can no longer operate, it's another step in the consolidation of the surveillance society.

Posted on August 9, 2013 at 11:45 AM • 118 Comments

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Comments

Bastiat • August 9, 2013 12:03 PM

Bruce, All,

I'm tired of this. Can't we in the security community bring up a secure email, chat, and web portal service in a censorship/surveillance free country? I'm not sure which country would be best, Chile? Estonia? Who will stand up against the US?

Then comes the second problem: funding. I don't have enough to bring up my own data center.

There is one thing I'm sure of and that is that this has to stop right here right now!

Paco Javi • August 9, 2013 12:10 PM

Levison says "he can't legally share the reasons" for shuttering his email service. In the case of NSLs can he even legally share the fact that he can't legally share the reasons? Or legally share the fact that he can't legally share the fact that he can't legally share? Etc.

bf skinner • August 9, 2013 12:11 PM

Is that not what TPB is for?

Jack William Bell • August 9, 2013 12:14 PM

Bastiat;

That is definitely one way to move forward. Perhaps we need a Kickstarter for it? However, any such effort will also require trust. We need to know that the right people are doing it and more right people are verifying they are doing the right thing.

Another possibility I have considered is creating a 'packaged' secure mail server that anyone could host themselves. Maybe the US government can strong-arm companies into letting them monitor email traffic, but can they do the same to individuals?

Steve • August 9, 2013 12:17 PM

The state of current affairs is getting closer and closer to a dystopian Orwellian reality than I'd ever thought possible in the US. The similarities are so vivid that it's surreal.

Silly me for believing in the Bill of Rights.

I never thought I'd be considered a criminal for sending an encrypted message to someone, but it seems like that's where we're going.

Philip • August 9, 2013 12:17 PM

Only way I can think of is to totally overhaul the email protocol; it has to be end-to-end. Smtp and imap just don't secure well at all. Then everyone's got to use it or else it won't work.

Aaron • August 9, 2013 12:26 PM

Perhaps it's time to standardize SMTP-over-Tor, or something like that.

kingsnake • August 9, 2013 12:28 PM

Did he think it was thr ight thing to do, or was he told it is the right thing to do?

Aj • August 9, 2013 12:28 PM

Zimmerman's Silent Circle just shut down, also.

Karen G • August 9, 2013 12:31 PM

If an end to end encryption protocol COULD be developed, I am on board. I am in Canada, and am not happy that ALL my messages that route through the USA are kept at the NSA. Worse yet, as a foreigner, I have no recourse if the NSA decides that I am a threat and uses "Old" stuff to prosecute me, even though I am innocent. Sadly, I fear it will come to that.

******************************************************************

So my friend Phate was one of the founders of Lavabit and convinced me to use its services. I have used other services like Hushmail, TOR, or PGP encryption over the years,
so it was not a stretch to use this anonymous, encrypted service to communicate in private with my friend Phate, who was the Lab's administrator after Bobby D. let it go.

It was a very plain, easy-to-use service that could have just as easily have been created and secretly run by the NSA or CIA as anyone else. Standard 256-bit encryption, super safe, that Bruce Schneier himself would tell you is only crackable by the Big Boys with unlimited resources.....like the CIA, NSA, or DIA themselves. And even they would need some time to do so.

So Ed Snowden hits the news and the owner of Lavabit discloses that Snowden used the service and undisclosed "others" did as well, not to mention some cannabis-loving guys and gals who were just playing it safe. He chose to shut it down and hopefully pressed the big red "erase" button as he did so. He could do so until he was subpoened so he made the call, hopefully in time, and all that was there was gone forever.

So what do you think? Did he make the call in time or was he made to make the call......after they got what they wanted?

Life, what a trip.

 

[Sforza]

I see that the Globe dispensary is going to be opening in January. Too bad.

 

[Sforza]

Hey Sforza,

You're fortunate to be seeing the sites, my friend. Jamaica still beckons me as my wife has never been there and loves reggae and beaches. It's on the short list for sure.

I had to beat a hasty retreat under duress the last time I was in Jamaica. I haven't been there in 35 years. If the record keeping in Jamaica is as bad as I think it is, I might take the wife back down to JA and show her my old stamping grounds. I would imagine most of the folks I ran with are dead now. We lived fast and hard but that usually leads to an early death.

I would have been dead years ago had I not my wife at the Granja Azul hotel in Lima, Peru. She was staying there on a layover since she was stewardess for KLM. We called them stewardesses back then and they were young and pretty and flying was enjoyable. I was on my way back to Jamaica from a trip to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

She was too good of a catch to not do everything in my power to keep her and more than 30 years of marriage later, it is still the best decision I ever made in a lifetime of making bad choices. I was looking for a hard headed woman and since I found my hard headed woman, my life has been blessed. Of course I also wanted a beautiful, sexy woman and she was when I met her and she is still sexy and beautiful now, even though she is well over fifty.

 

[Sforza]

Then:

and now

The old girl has aged well.

 

[Sforza]

Speaking of Jamaica. A long time ago, I had a little board shack in the Red Ground section of Negril with my buddy, my fraternity little brother from college.

I used to head over to what was called Hedonism at the time, an all inclusive resort at night to check out the little disco there. It had windows looking into the pool, which swimmers used to moon the disco patrons. Usually I only had to buy the required number of shark's teeth used to drinks to get into the disco, but sometimes, when they were on a kick to keep the locals out, they wouldn't let you in the disco unless you paid for a room.

The DJ in there was a buddy of mine and would play Wake Up Everybody by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes for me because he knew I loved that song. On one trip, I brought him a heavy sterling silver braided bracelet which I had purchased on a trip to Lima, Peru. That silver shone and sparkled against his black skin like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear and he really appreciated the gift. After not being in Jamaica for years, I ran into him and his girlfriend at a reggae concert in Berkeley, CA held in memorial of Bob Marley, who had died shortly before, may he rest in peace. It is a small world.

To get in the disco one evening, I had to pay for a room at the resort, but it was not very expensive. No luck that night with the ladies, but I was drunk as hell, so I decided to sleep it off in the room I had paid for instead of making my way back to Red Ground. I woke up with a terrible hangover, as is usually the case when you drink way too much rum and coke.

By trial and error I had learned that nothing cures a hangover but time, but smoking a joint of fine herb can at least transform a bad hangover into a somewhat less unpleasant altered state. I had some good ganja with me because if I had better luck the night before I would have some to share with my partner.

I have found that making love while high on ganja is a much more enjoyable and sensuous experience than without it. One often hears about ganja enhancing the flavor of and appetite for food and making one appreciate music so much more when high, but less often about its ability to make love making more spiritual and intimate.

I had my skimpy little speedo bathing suit (we are talking 70's here), since I sometimes wore it as underwear, when I did not go commando. I rolled up a nice fat joint, not a spliff, and tucked it into the suit, along with a couple of small strike anywhere matches that I had brought from Colombia since they were so handy, and a folded up Jamaican twenty dollar bill, back when they were worth something.

I meandered past the rows of lounge chairs set up near the beach at Hedonism on my way to the beach. Not many chairs were occupied, since it was still relatively early. I hate that when I have the worst hangovers is when I can sleep the least, but that is usually the case. I walked up the beach, away from the island towards town. Back then, you did not have to walk very far before you were past all the hotels on that end of the beach and were out on some open beach with no businesses and few people.

At that point, I pulled out my jay and fired it up. As I walked and smoked, I enjoyed the clear water lapping up on the sand, occasionally washing over the tops of my feet. The verdant jungle on my left was thick and tangled. The lapis lazuli sky delighted, as always. As the weed worked its magic, I felt better and was congratulating myself and my decision to go for the walk and thinking how lucky I was to be able to enjoy such beauty. Life was indeed good.

Eventually, as I got down to just a tiny little roach, I reached a small bar or bed and breakfast of some sort off the beach. Out from this area comes a fully dressed Jamaican guy of about 30 or 40 years of age. He is woofing and waving his hands at me as he heads towards me and I immediately mark him as a plain clothed cop. I think surely this guy is not getting all worked up about me smoking a jay out here in middle of nowhere, but by way of precaution, I flick the roach out into the wavelets.

The cop cuts off my route and stands in front of me, asking what I was smoking. Nothing of course. We go back and forth a little while and then he sees something at the water's edge and bends down reaching for it. It is my roach that the waves have pushed up onto the sand. He is off balance for an instant as he goes for the roach, so I exit stage left. Being in good shape and having a head start, I figure I put a good bit of distance between us after a hundred yards or so. I slowed down a little so I can look back over my shoulder to see how far behind he is and the old fart was right on my tail, running down the beach in his dress slacks, button down shirt, and black oxfords. Fear lends wings and I kicked it up a couple gears and I managed to get separation eventually.

Just when I was feeling good about my situation, I hear the old cop start yelling again. Out of the bush ahead of me and between me and the sanctuary of my room at Hedonism, comes another cop, this one seemed a bit younger. After just outrunning the old guy, I did not like my chances of getting past the younger cop or crashing through the jungle in my bathing suit, so I headed out to the water.

I can swim like a fish. I got way the hell out there and the damn old cop was still on the beach, marking my position, and making a lot of noise about it. You would have thought I was serial murderer by the amount of time and effort he was putting into catching me, but I was just as determined to make sure that dem cannot boast, say dem capture Rasta.

Eventually I got out far enough from the beach that they lost sight of my head in the chop. I swam until I was just off the beach of Hedonism then I worked my way through the swimmers from the resort onto the beach and back to my room. Between the ganja, the adrenaline rush, and the exercise, my hangover was cured for those who want to give it a try.

Later that morning, after I had showered and dressed, I saw the old cop on the grounds of the resort. He glowered at me and I smiled at him and that was the end of that story.