Almost Nabbed

Last year my Site Steward partner and I looked over a Hohokam prehistoric site way to the south of Tucson - not too far from the border.

We were on a big ranch owned by the County - within the boundaries of our monitoring area.

Access is tricky. To get into the site we have to call the County office to get the combination lock activation number. They change the combination frequently and we only go out there every few months.

The County contact, of course, asks for the car type, license plate number, our names and everything else but our blood type!

Now after many phone calls and combination number in hand we were on our way.

Once we were past the combo lock we traveled a dirt road past the old ranch house, went through a couple of more gates then, eventually, arrived at the hill top prehistoric site.

We spent about three quarters of an hour on site then headed out to more sites just outside of the combo locked gate.

As we were leaving the site driving the dirt road and approaching the combo locked gate, a truck was headed towards us. In keeping with countryside niceties we slowed, came to a halt and rolled down the window to have a ‘howdy’ chat.

“Were you ladies just up on that hill?” asked the anxious and worried looking driver.

“Yes. We were there. We are Arizona Site Stewards.”

We produced our Site Steward papers authorizing us to be on county properties.

He gave our papers a careful scrutiny then said, “Oh! Ok. No one notified me you were to be here. I called the Border Patrol on you.”

I looked at the passenger in the truck and sure enough there was a young, grinning Border Patrol Officer!

Grinning back at him I said, “Shucks! You missed out on nabbing two beautiful dames today!”