Drunk Drivers

Now, this....this is my favorite!

Not the best folks are they? We were trying to get to a hotel on a four-way in a little city in Virginia, around 2:30 this morning. Sidewalks all rolled up, not a car for miles....we'd been on the move since around 8:30 AM, including a couple of hours walking in Mobile and Blue Mountain Beach Florida, and a lot of driving.

Suddenly some yahoo appeared from the other side of the four-way and sailed up the street on the wrong side, weaving all over, right for the Camaro.

I screamed. Alan reacted. Fast. Had he not, Mr. or Ms. DUI would have taken us out. As it was we kissed mirrors with a bang and the culprit took off like a streak.

It took a very long time to file a police report. Alas, the police in that particular town were belligerent and unpleasant to us.

"Were you drinking?"

"We can't find any debris except animal tracks, are you sure it was a car?"

"Were you drinking?"

"Where were you going? What were you doing? Where did you come from?"

"Were you drinking?"

It went on and on until we all got pretty ticked off. I finally told the guys, "Look, I'm his mother. He's traveling with his mother and his sister, not exactly party animals. What he said happened, happened."

Eventually they handed us an accident report, which accurately detailed just what we told them, so I guess they actually did believe us. However, we drove back to where the cars impacted (we had had to move up the road a bit to find a safe place to pull off the road.)

There were the parts of both mirrors and a mess of plastic off the other car lying in plain sight in the road. If they really cared at all they could have seen it. Alan picked up the insert from his mirror and stuck it back in place...the glass was broken but it reflected cars coming up behind us, albeit in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a disco ball (perfect for New Years right?)

We skipped the whole stopping thing and just came on home. We were lucky to get off so lightly, and I don't mean to whine. Had things gone down even the least bit differently a lot more than mirrors would have been broken, but geez, get somebody to drive you home if you are too drunk to find your way.

Unreal how people drive these days. We saw at least fifty accidents and hundreds of incidents, probably more than that, from a tractor trailer full of pallets lying on its side in a rain storm to dozens of fender benders, cars off the road in darned near every ditch south of Pennsylvania, three dead bears, a couple hundred flat raccoons, several finished off foxes, piles of possums, one dead Turkey Vulture, which smelled far worse than the many deceased skunks he joined on the road, and one lady who passed us going at least 95 MPH. Yowsa!

We next saw her a couple miles up the road on the far side of the other side of the four-lane, her car nosed into the woods and swamp. How she got across all that traffic without being injured is beyond me, but she was standing by the road holding her baby and being comforted by passersby when we went past. Yes, a baby.

Scary huh? We had an amazing time, but the Interstate system and the byways that lead onto it are not for the faint of heart or slow of reaction. It is good to be home where everything is standing still and staying in its own lane. Hopefully everyone will be wise and careful tonight and make it home safe. Happy New Year!