Weird Sights along the Highway

The other day, Bratworse and I were driving back from fishing, and along this fairly deserted highway by a line of telephone poles, were a white van and two men. Neither men wore any uniforms (like a PG&E one or a cable one) but one man was in a suit and wearing really dark glasses.

I nudged Bratworse and pointed them to them, asking, "Special Ops?"

Then today, as I'm driving back from lunch, I see two men again with a van but this time it's tan. They're by the roadside which overlooks a development of housing. The distance from the road to the development is probably about 30-40 feet down a steep bank. I see these two men climb over the safety railing, with a pickaxe. A pickaxe, you know, the ones you see dwarves using to mine gems (if you've ever seen Snow White).

So any guess as to what these two groups were up to? My immediate thought for the first one was, warrantless wiretapping/searches by the government. The second... I am simply at a loss to explain. Digging up dead bodies? Ah, the imagination runs amuck.