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When most authors come to the end of a book and find that there will be one or two blank pages, they usually label them "NOTES" in order to show that there is some reason for them being there. Instead of "Notes", I will us the space to tell you the story about how I came to be known as "Don Coyote"

Several years ago, I owned an older motorhome which I decided to name Rocinante, after Don Quixote's horse. I had a sign painter remove the original maker's decals and paint the name across the back.

My wife and I were traveling through far west Texas when we decided to spend the night near the small town of Van Horn. Since we were on the road and wanted to get moving, we decided to drive into town the next morning for breakfast. As we were driving along the sleepy main street, a man wearing a cowboy hat and big star jumped out in front of us, waving his arms to stop us.

"Yew caint drive no truk on main street on Satiday," he shouted. "It's agin the law."

"This isn't a truck, it's a motorhome," I told him.

"It's got dual wheels on it, so it's a truk an yew pay a fine."

"But it is classed as a motorhome and has a motorhome license on it," I protested, pointing at the tag.

"Don't make no difference, I'm writin’ yew a ticket for drivin' a truk on main street on Satiday an' it will cost yew ten bucks," he said as he hauled out his book and began to write.

"Whut kind of a truk is a Rocinante?" he asked, looking at the name.

"That's the name of Don Quixote's horse," I replied.

"Don Coyote. Is he one of them Hol-lewood cowboy stars or sumpin?"

Not wanting to cause him to have a mental overload, I simply replied, "You might say that."

He ripped the ticket from his book and handed it to me, saying, "Yew will have to hang 'round till nine when the jedge gets to his office."

I looked at the ticket, which wasn't made out to me but to Don Coyote. Needless to say, we drove right on out of town and kept going. That ticket is now one of my more memorable pieces of worthless paper.

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