What a week it was, I would give the “week in review” but you all pretty much know what has gone in the world of sultnpapper, so let’s talk about one last thing from, well two last things, from the trip down to the Rio Grande Valley of Northern Mexico, also known as south Texas.
I have been traveling down to that area now for the better part of two decades and while I am there I usually keep a pretty tight schedule and more often than not I will also have a local distributor of the products I rep riding with me, or vice versa, as we make some joint calls on our shared clients. So not a lot of time for sight seeing.
When I was leaving the valley and making my way east on Interstate Hwy 2, right about at the city of Donna, I spotted something that I had seen for years and just never could figure out the damn thing or why it was there. Seeing that my work was done and I was alone in the truck I got off at the next exit and hung a u turn and headed back to circle back around and finally satisfy my curiosity. They say that curiosity killed the cat, if I were a cat my nine lives would have been gone before I reached the age of ten; I have always been the curios type.
This “thing” I was going to check out was an elephant. Yep, a big ass elephant that is so bright and shiny that it looks like polished chrome when you are up on the highway going by it at 70 miles per hour. It sits right at the front of a big empty lot that at some point in time had some type of business or businesses there because there are some concrete footers from buildings in that field but not really visible from the road.
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This elephant stands atop of a concrete base that, while I didn’t measure it, I would guess it to be about six foot wide by eight foot long and at least a couple feet high. The elephant itself probably is six foot tall to the top of its back and probably is seven feet or longer from the tip of its trunk to the tail, it also is solid concrete. The reason it was do damn shiny is that it is covered for the most part with tiny little mirrors, yes mirrors. That is what gave it the appearance of being polished chrome from the highway. <p><div class"pull-right">https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZfcboXeKLn9iJx4jU1CKXUYN8axudapd7PkdEpaxEfVd/image.png</div>
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As you can see from the pictures it isn’t in pristine condition by any means as there are quite a few of the tiny mirrors missing, but from up on the road it sure isn’t noticeable. I don’t have a clue what type of business was located here previously, ever since I first noticed this thing the field has always just appeared to be an empty field. My guess would be some type Asian restaurant, elephants and Asians go together, or least they do in my mind.
I can’t imagine that it was put there as some sort of joke since it even has a couple lights by the base to light the thing up at night. I don’t know if the lights still work since I never have driven by it at night to notice.
<p><div class"pull-right">https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQCnKgJooeddxiMR41f3vCnGn41CHECQBpHBrh9QhcMsz/image.png</div>I would also venture the guess that whatever business was there decided that it was way too difficult to try and move it when they left, besides, just where in the hell would you put it? This thing has to weigh at least a couple of tons at the very minimum without the base. So now you have seen it, what are your thoughts? Anyone from the valley area around here reading the dose that knows anything about this mirrored mass of concrete?
Okay, moving on, coming out of the valley there are only two roads going north and south and the US Border Patrol has a check point that is a mandatory stop for all vehicles, they need to check you out before you can proceed any further. If you are an old white guy like me they will only ask you one question and if the drug sniffing dog doesn’t hit on your vehicle you will be on your way pretty quickly, if you answer the question correctly.
I don’t like the fact that they stop every vehicle, and I don’t like being asked questions if I am not suspected of a crime by law enforcement people. Ask me anything you want if you are investigating a crime and you think I might have had something to do with it, but otherwise, just leave me the guzbuck alone border patrol folks.
You Tube is full of videos were people have refused to answer whether or not they are a US citizen, some of these get pretty intense and have led to windows being busted and people going to jail. The people are correct when you get right down to it, these stops are an illegal detention but the courts say otherwise.
This is my fourth trip to valley since I started really pushing back on police and law enforcement for overstepping their bounds but when I am working I also have to keep in mind that if I do something stupid and get the windows busted out of the truck and arrested I would probably be without a job.
I have found the perfect solution as far as I am concerned and it worked again this time when asked if I am a US citizen. My reply is, “I’m a Texan.” to which every time the response has been, “have a nice day.” One agent a couple trips back did smile and sort of winked, or maybe some dust blew in his eye, but I think he understood what I was saying. I’m not about to get into it with these people doing their jobs, I don’t have the time and that surely isn’t the place to try to educate them so why bother. Nothing good can come from starting a ruckus and holding up their lines. The education needs to be done with the people up in Washington.
Being born in one of the states of the United States of America doesn’t make you a US citizen, despite what you have been told, it makes you an American. To be a US citizen you have to agree to be US citizen, I won’t go into all that right now since it is Saturday and we have some SBI, steem basic income to give away today, so let’s get started.
First up is a photographer from across the pond from where I am and luckily for me I don’t judge the books by the covers as they say or I wouldn’t have given this person the time of day. I met her when she first showed up here on steemit back when I was spending a lot of time in the “introduceyourself” posts greeting people since I didn’t have anyone who I was friends with yet and hadn’t discovered discord. She has been making a name for herself her on steemit and has won at least a couple of Currie up votes that I know of.
While she has a self described “dark side” she really is charming and a talented photographer so please make sure to check out @martaesperanza and her works. That dark side kind of had me a little leery; but her photos are great and she recently visited Canada and her recap of her trip up the mountain earned her one of those Curie up votes, the pictures of Mirror Lake are outstanding.
Next up is @dswigle and @topkpop these two little ladies help hold everything together over at #steemusa and are very deserving of a token of my appreciation for what they do over there. I don’t spend nearly enough time on discord right now because this is my busy time of year with work, but when things slow down this fall I plan on spending some more time and that will be one of the places I will be hanging out in. If you are an American or living here in the USA and you haven’t made it over there and joined the group just what are you waiting for, a personal invite? Well you just got one, now get over there and make yourself known to your fellow ~~comrades~~, ~~citizens~~, Americans.
About that “Max Accepted Payout $100,000.00”, I hadn’t noticed that before now, does anyone know if a post has ever received that amount before? I wasn’t around here when the “big money” was flying about but being the curious type; I am curious to know. But even better than that, why don’t we take this Daily Dose post and re-steem the hell out of it, talk it up on every discord channel and in every comment you make and see if we can’t just make this coin operated machine pay the max amount on this Daily Dose, if only for this one time, just to show it can be done.
I would even accept more than the Max Accepted Payout, but then some folks might accuse me of being greedy, and I just wouldn’t want to prove them right. Does anyone even know how much rewards are available in a seven day period if each account posted one up vote all to the one same post at 100% value? That would be interesting to know as well.
I am sure it is **extremely ~~un~~likely** that this post will reach the $100K mark so just to be clear, 90% of my cut if it hits the max will be given to a charity that daily dose readers will choose, you have my word on it.
That will about wrap up the Rio Grande Valley trip and this week’s SBI Saturday give away, how about next Saturday we figure out what charities we want to fund with our 90%?
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
The photos are all property of @sultnpapper.
