But Christmas came early for Sanchez.
The story is best told in a blog by Tom Herrmann, a spokesman for ADOT, who puts it this way:
It all began just days before Christmas, when Sanchez bought a new truck in his former hometown of Hawthorne, California.
Eager to get his new truck back to his home just outside Dallas, Texas – perhaps too eager – Sanchez crossed the Colorado River into Arizona.
He pulled into the port of entry, located in the median on Interstate 8 about a mile east of the state line. Not knowing the port was closed at that hour, he looked in a manila envelope and removed permits to show safety inspectors, then set the envelope down on his truck. Finding the office closed, Sanchez climbed back in his truck, pulled back onto I-8 and headed for Texas.
The manila envelope was still sitting on the side of his truck. As he brought his truck up to freeway speed, the envelope blew off. He realized the mishap about 15 miles later, but it was too late. The envelope – containing Sanchez’s passport, Social Security card, receipts, truck title and other papers – was gone. Despite two anxious trips up and down I-8, he failed to find it.
