Why, good morning officer!

Amusing story to tell of my urban camping experience last night.

So I decided to sleep in my car in a parking lot on campus, near my lab (see previous post). I had my crashpad laid out in the back, and went to sleep at around midnight.

An hour later, I wake up to the sound of someone knocking on the glass and a flashlight being shined into the car. First rousing thought: "oh crap, the rangers have found me bandit camping!". Then as the adrenaline hit and I was becoming more mentally alert, I realized "wait a sec... I paid to be in this campsite tonight!". Then the wakeful thoughts really hit and I realized that the person knocking on my window was saying "... police. open the door slowly".

so I opened the door and it was like being in L.A. all over again. Flashlight in my face to keep me blinded, hands always out in the open, slowly move to get things, let the cop take my bag and not me to reach in and grab my stuff. I knew the routine pretty well. I acted pretty non-chalant (wise or not wise?) as I tried to mumble out a coherent explanation as to why there was a 28 year old asian sleepin in his car in a dark corner of the parking lot on a university campus.

Eventually two more cops showed up (I guess they need backup to handle a lone shoeless asian climber in loose fitting clothes. News flash: not all Asians know kung-fu!). They took my id, ran a background check on me and my car, searched me as my hands were held behind me (I was hoping I'd get handcuffed just to make this story more exciting!), and sat on the curb of the lot as they searched my car. I made the mistake of telling them there was a camping knife in the car when they asked if I had a weapon... oh well. They found the little 2 cm multi-tool knife and looked almost like I was playing a joke with them ("dude - that is not a weapon!!!").

I gave them my story too - I was a moron and lost my keys. Everyone was asleep at midnight so I decided to come to campus and sleep where I had access to my lab for bathroom, heat and water. I live a few blocks away. Yes, I work on campus. No, I don't know kung-fu.

I started chattnig with the "backup" cops - I was telling them I was a climber and decided to use the gera that I still hadn't cleaned out from my car to sleep with tonight. I think it helped that my climbing guide books were still out and my car keys were attached to a 31 kN locking carabiner. I was asking if this would be reported in the school newspaper - I'd love to see mention of this nigth in the paper!!! The cops were a little confused and hopefully amused at my attitude.

All in all, they "allowed" me to sleep in my car as long as I moved it to a less supsicous, brightly lit area for the night. Polite, but whatever. Thanks for the excitement... next time, show up when I need to go to work and not in the middle of the night.

Speaking of, it got too cold at night so I decidded to go to work early for the warmth. Early = 4 am. yeah. It got *that* cold at night.