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My run in with the Police/Homeland Security
As some of you know from my thread I posted on Tuesday I went out for a celebratory paddle on Folsom Lake. There was really no one out there and the water was glass which makes for a great paddle. I put my Santa hat on, strapped the GoPro to my board, jumped on the board and headed out towards the Dam.
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Ever since 9/11 Homeland Security and the Police monitor the dam very closely. If for some reason the Dam ever failed or was compromised, thousands if not millions of lives below it could be lost.
Well, I guess I got a little too close for comfort for them on Tuesday. Here is the video I was shooting with the GoPro at the time. The video doesn't do any justice to how really close I actually was. Because I had the waterproof case on the camera you can't really hear much but if you turn it all the way up you can hear them at about the 13 second mark and again at 41 seconds tell me that I'm in a restricted area and basically to get the hell out. So I did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Nw-r0nK1Y
I didn't think much of it at the time....even thought that they probably didn't want to blast Santa with the LRAD.;) It was about a three mile paddle back to where I started from.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDPpVmDPJws
As I started getting closer I noticed the PD driving all over the place almost like they were following where I was paddling. :yikes: I knew something was up because this area is usually patrolled by State Park Rangers. Sure enough I was right. No sooner than I pulled up to shore they pulled up to my truck. Keep in mind it was probably an hour and a half after I was at the Dam and it's about a 6 mile drive for them to get where I was at.
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First thing the cop says to me is where's the GoPro camera? I guess they had seen it from the top of the Dam.:yikes: I said its in my ice chest. He then asks if I have any weapons on me or in my bag and I said no. Then he asks if he can search my stuff. I'm starting to get nervous at this point because they obviously mean business. I let him do a search. He pulls out the camera and wants to see the footage. The only problem with that is that the battery died on the paddle back. At this point I'm trying to turn on the camera to show him its dead and my hands are shaking so badly that I can barely hold on to the camera...which I felt made me look even more guilty. He's asking me what my purpose for being at the dam was...if I had c-4....etc... All of a sudden it dawns on me that the cop with bomb dog is there and I say "Remember the guy that pulled the bomb/flare out of the lake a couple months ago, that was me"? All of a sudden the mood lightened up as he recognized me. Thank God! Things went a lot smoother after that. Basically told me I can't be pulling this shit that close to the dam unless I want "guys in black vans" to come visit me. Lesson learned....somewhat ;)
You cant see in the video how overwhelming the dam is when you get that close to it. It is impressive!! Here's a screen grab from the video to try and show you how big it really is. I was much closer than it appears in the picture.
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