Searching for the Corner, Badges

Still August 15, 2008

Silence is one aspect of border walking. Or at least a reduction of human-induced noise. Another is aloneness - you don't usually run into many people or critters. But the Nevada borderlands were about to get almost crowded with both.

As I squatted on the knoll measuring the distances a decked out 4WD appeared, coming up the dirt road very slowly in an apparent nod to its accompanying dust cloud. It had a rack of spotlights on top framed by a pair of blue law enforcement flashers, currently off. I stood up and walked over to my truck which was half in and half out of the roadway. When I parked it, there didn't appear to be any traffic to worry about. The big-tired vehicle coming at me had 'Sheriffs Department, Elko County, Nevada' writ big on the side. It pulled in behind my truck and a large, handsome blond woman got out.

"Trouble?"

So we ended up chatting a bit. She was much younger than I first thought, probably late twenties. Her name was Stephanie and her assignment was to cruise the back roads and do law enforcing and Samaritan rescues. That seemed a bit risky for a young woman but remembering details - when she came around her vehicle to greet me she had her hand casually atop her holster and her thumb on the release snap, she had her knees slightly bent and legs spread a little wider than her shoulders, she moved to a position that kept the sun out of her eyes and more in mine, her smile was big and her eyes without fear - I figured she could probably handle herself. She had also undoubtedly already called in my license plate as she approached.

I told her what I was up to and she seemed genuinely interested and helpful. She thought my GPS unit was pretty cool but also cottoned on to its weaknesses. We spread my topographic map on the hood of her vehicle, which brought it pretty near eye level, and she traced some possible routes to the corner.

"But," Deputy Stephanie said, "I don't think there is a road like this shows that goes that close. You may have to walk it." She offered up a couple of more possible routes and then folded up my map and returned it to me. "Good luck, I hope you get there," she said, and climbed back up to her driver's seat perch, turned on the engine and idled around my truck and down the road to the south. I was alone again, but not for long.