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Good story! I willl try and I hope its not too boring.
In 1966 my best friend(age 19) and I (age 18) decided to go from NY to LA for the summer and get jobs. We took Jim's Plymouth Valiant and set off with $67. and no credit cards. After 4 days we made it and immediately found work in a machine shop sharpening drills for the aircraft industry. It was soon apparent this totally sucked and we decided to head off to Ft Worth to see some cousins. On the day we left LA, a guy we worked with was going to sell us a lid of grass for the trip, BUT we decided we didn't have the $10 to spare and skipped it.
On the way to Ft Worth, we came through ElPaso, and decided to head down into Mexico to ride horses and see a little countryside. On the way back to the border we bought a large jug of Tequila and duly declared it at the border. The nice US customs guy told us at our ages we couldn't bring it into Texas, so he told us to take it back to the supermercado and get our money back, which we did in short order. All is cool, right?
But noooo. On our return to the border station it turns out they figured we had some dope in the car (long hair, from NY, etc) and the same guard proceeded to make us literally take the car apart under his watchful gaze, meanwhile pointing to a stockade nearby with lots of guys looking out at us. Something about 20 years in prison for bringing dope into Texas! When we couldn't get the back seat out, the guard again pointed to the stockade, and said if that seat didn't come out we were going to the pen for a while. Jim and I ripped the seat out, no dope of course, and the guard told us we could go.
I have often reflected on how that one decision could have changed my life forever. If we had spent the $10., it would have been found in the car and our life stories would be very different indeed.
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