Stuttering Produce Police

 I grew up in California and when I got married I moved out of the state.  Except for a short lapse in sanity for about 6 months living in Riverside and working in Tustin in Southern California I haven't looked back.  My parents still live in CA and so does Don's family. Therefore, we go and visit them at least once a year.

 We often fly, but now that flight tickets are getting expensive and offering less.......we opted to drive.  Now we have driven this route many times so you would think that we would remember that at the boarder entering into CA there is a produce inspection station.  Apparently they don't want produce brought into the state that carry disease or insects that can destroy crops and therefore the produce economy.

Now I think this would work except for the fact that so much fruit and produce gets in anyway, through uninspected cars, airplanes, and illegals coming in from the south. We have driven through this inspection station for years and there were several times when it was closed and you go right on through. Personally, I think this is a way to keep public (Union) employees employed.

What was really funny is that our inspection agent was Asian and stuttered.  It was impossible to understand him.  He saw our ice chest and said....."aaaaa yyyyyoooo c c c aaaa ry vvvveg-e-ttt-a-bbboes  o  ffffff-rrr-tt?  I mmmus ch-ch-ch-chk cccccooola.

I had purchased these beautiful cherries and kept them in the cooler to keep cold so we could enjoy them while driving across the hot desert.  The agent had taken apples and oranges from the car occupant in front of us and we had apples and a banana in the cooler too, but he didn't want those.  He wanted the cherries!  I said, "I want to eat these so we will pull over up there and eat them."  He looked a bit disappointed but said it was okay.  Before we could drive over to the parking area he took our license plate number and asked where we were going in CA.  I ask you.....why does he need that info.  Was he going to chase us down if we decided to bolt?  Was he going to charge us with cherry abduction?  He then filled out a yellow "Certification of Inspection to be Retained While in California" form and handed it to us.  We were now identified as a"Travelers who eat cherries while driving!" threat.  Are we on some kind of terrorist list now? Actually I think he was getting his lunch together and also product for the fruit stand his family operates down the road.

California......who has hijacked reality in this state? These inspections stations just confirm another government plan that doesn't work, gives high paying jobs to people how can't speak let alone be fluent in English, and funds it all with my (and your) money.  What a hoot!