Interesting post Dave. I was down in El Paso on the way to Big Bend Nat'l. Park last March. First time ever in New Mexico and Texas, and I was shocked by the magnitude of our para-military Border Patrol presence. Kinda' unnerving to be driving on the interstate 50 miles from the border and have to pull through an Orwellian check station and allege you're an American citizen and actually have a right to be there. Uniforms, automatic weapons, canines, the whole 9 yards. Felt really creepy. I thought it has gotten bad around the Canadian border in recent years, with BP cars making up a high percentage of the traffic, but it's nothing like the southern border. A very strange feeling, that's for sure.