You're Never To Old
During my first seven years as a Game Warden I was assigned to Caddo County, in SW Oklahoma. To the east of me in Grady County was my partner, and g00d friend Game Warden Gene Pester. Along our county lines was Lake Burtschi, a Wildlife Department Public Fishing Area that Gene and I worked quite frequently. Lake Burtschi is a good fishing lake that sees a lot of activity, and is a favorite destination for our state's fisherman.
Along with attracting fisherman, Lake Burtschi attracts its share of the area's undesirable population. Gene and I made many arrests over the years for illegal activities such as drug use, persons sniffing paint, wanted felons, drunk driving, and everything else in-between. On all Wildlife Department Public Fishing Areas there is an 11:00pm-:00am curfew that bans all activities except for those that are fishing and camping related. Because of this, Gene and I would work the area a lot after 11:00pm in an attempt to keep the area under control so that the fisherman could enjoy their night at the lake.
One night at approximately 2:00 am I was working the youth side of the lake when I observed a vehicle entering the area and driving very slowly. As usual, I started following the vehicle trying to determine what the occupants were up to, fully expecting it to be the usual car load of folks, drinking beer and being full of mischief. As the vehicle got to the dead end at the east end of the lake, the common spot for illegal activity, I was suddenly surprised as to what happened next.
The vehicle began to "do doughnuts" (going around in circles) at a very high rate of speed, making close to twenty complete circles, throwing gravel and filling the air with a huge cloud of dust. Suddenly the vehicle came to a quick stop and then began driving slow again back to the west as if they were leaving the area. As the car approached me I activated my red lights and stopped the vehicle, already thinking to myself what I was going to find when I approached the driver's window, little did I know I was about to be totally caught off guard.
When I shined my flashlight on the occupants, there sat a elderly couple that were in their 80's. The man looking at me with one of those classic sheepish grins, the lady covering her face with her hands, saying over and over "I am so embarrassed". I then asked them what they thought they were doing, the whole time trying hard not to laugh. The elderly man said, "well, we were at home laying in bed, and I told my wife, lets go out and do something crazy, and we ended up here". I said, "Well, you have accomplished it, now why don't you go home before you hurt somebody".
The lady said, "I told him we were to old to do something like this, but he wouldn't listen to me, I am so embarrassed". The man apologized, and promised that they would go straight home and go to bed.