A long while ago while I was living in Las Cruces, NM I enjoyed back backing in the Gila Wilderness in southwestern NM. On one trip I was driving west of Silver City about 11 pm or so along US 180. This can be a very deserted section of highway late at night, not another car in sight for last 10 – 15 minutes. Anyhow, in those days I drove a 1967 Plymouth station wagon with a ski rack on the roof. On this trip as most others I had my two Weimaraners in the back end laying on a blanket covering my camping gear. Stage set now.
A car comes up fast behind me and then slows down to match my speed, what the heck? The road is long, straight, dry and no traffic- why don’t you pass me??? We cruise along as a tandem driving team for a few minutes. At this point I’m noticing my headlights are getting dimmer and dimmer. I slow down to allow this guy to pass and he slows down to match my new speed. I continue slowing down, because now it’s getting hard to see with my fading headlights. Well I figure my choices are limited, so start to pull over on the shoulder along a long straight section, there’s a lot’s of that. I’ll just deal with what ever happens??? Anyhow at this point his red lights switch on. At least this might be better than some options late at night in the southwest. I know I had not been speeding and no traffic signals for the past 30-40 minutes, license plate good- so what?? As the officer comes up to my door, I see he’s US Border Patrol. He starts to explain why they pulled me over- that’s nice. Apparently, my old station wagon and a blanket covering the rear cargo area fit the profile for a coyote, one transporting illegal immigrants. But, the ski rack and the two large gray dogs did not fit the profile. So they couldn’t decide to pull me over or not for a long time. But, I made it easy for them. He politely asked what I was doing, and I explained the camping trip, gear and dog arrangement. That made him happy. At this point I decided to explain that I was having electrical problems. So all three of us popped the hood and spent the next 10 minutes trouble-shooting. We concluded that it was my alternator and since I had very little battery left to run headlights I asked them if they would serve as my headlights and lead me back eastward about 10 miles to a nearby campground. They happily agreed and with red lights going off we went as a tandem driving team again.