Arizona Border Observations

by Pa Rock
Road Warrior

Crossing the border from Arizona to California is like landing on a whole other planet: the roads are better maintained in California, the rest stops are open, and people don't roar past on motorcycles bearing visible sidearms.

Californians are planning for the future while Arizonans are hopelessly mired in hate. Coming through the mountains fifty miles east of Bakersfield, the mountain tops were suddenly covered with power-producing windmills - thousands of windmills! I have never even seen one in Arizona, and there are areas in the state that are particularly windy. (Anyplace within a mile or two of Joe Arpaio, for instance.) I saw very nice California homes with multiple solar panels on the roofs. In Arizona, where the sun is always bearing down, most of the Home Owner's Associations won't allow solar panels.

And then there's that whole Mexican thing. One of the political commercials that I heard on the radio this afternoon was supporting Republican Meg Whitman in her effort to replace Arnold as governor of the nation's most populous state. The commercial was in Spanish! Arizona's Sand Hag would never stoop to that level. She has this notion that all Hispanics are drug runners or welfare cheats - or both - and she is adamant that they need to learn our "American" language. Here's hoping that all of our brown friends show up at the polls!

I don't subscribe to road rage, but occasionally a long day of driving might result in me becoming somewhat rude under certain circumstances - well, perhaps more than occasionally! This evening when I pulled into a motel outside of Fresno, I noticed that the car just ahead of me had Arizona tags. It was a very white couple who looked old enough to be my grandparents. He greeted me at the sign-in desk with "I see you're from Arizona too." "Yes," I responded, "but I'm not proud of it." That was an effective conversation-ender, but the Hispanic lady running the desk gave me a cute, subversive smile!

Arizona, guard those borders! You don't want anything intelligent slipping in!