Where Annette Saved Rick's Ass
I decided to ride with Annette on Thursday night as we left the Oasis after dinner. I thought it would be nice to give her some company. We followed the Captain as he headed to Cholla Bay.
We were chatting and driving and, as we got to one of the roundabouts near the hotels, there were flashing lights and the cops pulling the Captain over in front of us. Annette wanted to make sure they were real cops (there are some guys down there that try to shake down the touristas) so she pulled in behind the cop truck.
There were three cops and one came back to us right away to tell us we needed to move ahead of the Captain's car. I can understand why they wouldn't be comfortable with their backs to us. Annette checked out his badge (they wear them around their necks) to see he was the real deal then she started sweet talking.
"Why did you pull him over? I'm a vecino (homeowner for my gringo audience) and he's my guest."
The cop said, "For running the stop sign."
She repeated that she owned a place in Cholla and apologized for not being the lead car because she was sure he just didn't see the sign and if she had been in front they would have stopped.
The cop walked away from us to the Captain's truck. I said to Annette, "At least they didn't get him for the other stop sign at the train tracks that he also ran." We were thinking he would argue with them somehow and hoping that her speech would get him off the hook.
It did. The cop came back to us and said he was giving him a warning. One of the cops also told the Captain he was getting a warning. Did he argue? That depends on how you interpret it. He did start to ask where he should have stopped (to prove the point that they shouldn't have pulled him over, perhaps?) and Unruly Julie told him, "He said warning so just go."
We got back on the road and Annette and I were laughing. We decided to tell the other car that we had offered up "the quiet guy in the back" to let the Captain go. That quiet guy was The Rocket Scientist and he was not amused. We then decided it made a better story to say they asked for him but we wouldn't let them have him. Oh, how we laughed and oh, how he was not ever amused.
As we got closer to home, Annette said to me, "You need to tell Rick that I saved his ass on that." I told her I would completely back her up.
I don't think he believes it to be so nor does he agree that he ran either stop signs. "I slowed down at the railroad tracks!"
Regardless, all's well that ends well and we got a long running joke about giving TRS away so Annette and I were happy.