I have a couple of rental properties in Evansville, Indiana - it's a 19 hour drive (or so) from Denver across I-70. Westbound, you can stop at a rest area and do what you need to do to be legal, then once you get out of Illinois, you can do the same. A couple of years ago, the Eastbound side rest area before entering Illinois was closed. Be aware of that possibility.
Being from Colorado, with Colorado plates, the police automatically assume that the driver is transporting pot. I know this, I know I'm going to get pulled over. It's cool - I don't smoke pot and I have no problem being transparent.
I was pulled over on the way home on I-70 not too far outside of Ferguson, MO for "following too close". I was in the fast lane, there was a Black Ford Bronco unmarked car in the median. Folks were hitting their brakes as they passed him - I took my foot off the pedal (I was in a F-350 Quad Cab). I had both dogs in the car - I shut the truck off, opened the back window, opened the front windows (it's a 4 door truck) to let the officer know I was friendly. I also have the habit of pulling the keys out of the ignition and putting them on the dash when I get pulled over. Dogs starting going nuts (I have a blue heeler that thinks the truck is his) - he lunged at the window in the back and actually popped the top part of it out of the track so I asked the officer if I could step out and he agreed. I took my keys, put them in my front pocket, and I met the officer at the back of the truck - he chewed me out for "following too close". He asked me for my license. I pulled out the license and my CCW handed them to him, and told him there were two loaded concealed weapons in the truck. He chewed me out again for "following too close". I had two job site boxes in the back of the truck (orange Ridgid boxes). He asked what I was doing. I explained I had two rental properties in Evansville and I had spent the week out there, I was on the way back. He chewed me out again for "following too close"...then he said "where were you hunting". I explained to him that I wasn't hunting, was in Evansville working on the rental houses and the orange job site boxes had my tools in them (which they did). He said "That's a lot of tools". I pulled my keys out of my pocket and offered them to him and said "you are more than welcome to take a look". Then he chewed me out for the window being out of track and "about to fall out". I walked to the other side of the truck to take a look, looked at the window, turned back toward the officer, and he and his partner had left.
Window was fine - rolled it down, it popped back into track, then rolled it back up.
Nothing like a good ole fashioned shakedown LOL.
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