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| 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!
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10 comments:
Wow! You saw far more idiots on the road than I did when I went to the west coast in September-October. Then again, I never did much driving after 6 PM.
Glad you guys are okay. It's pretty obvious the cops you dealt with were not really interested in doing too much investigating seeing as you were from out of the area.
I am so glad you are home safe. Mike and Karen made it to there house and Matt is home too. All is well in my world. Love Mom
HI so glad you are ok. I have not heard from this blog in a long time Please check and send to willowhouse@q.com I isooo t hankful you are home and safe...I took a short trip NORTH of Southern Mn here in Northfield and traffic here was amazing..cannot imagine how much is out where you are. Well you can sit back, and enjoy being in your lovely place..safe warm and loved. Blessings and please keep the blog coming to me via email..thanks so much I have missed you ..Love merri
I haven't ventured out on NYE since 1998 when I was almost killed several times by drunks. I decided it was God's way of telling me I was too old for revelry.
Happy New Year
We live right of I-75 and the traffic there was like city driving almost bumper to bumper. Sorry about the accident but so glad you are all ok. Maybe a few gray hairs but you can cover that up, wear your hat. Happy New Year. I expect mine to be better then the last two, it has to be.
Joated, we have traveled a lot over the past couple of years and seen plenty of craziness, but this was off the charts. In Tennessee in a rain storm there were probably five fender benders in a mile!
Mom, we were glad too! Love you!
Merri, thanks for your kind words. I can't fix the problem with the rss feed. If you could set up a gmail address you could probably get it ok. I am so sorry.
Jan, we haven't either. Too scary. This was early on the morning and people were already drunk. We think it was because of a college football game that was taking place in the area. Happy New Year to you too, thanks!
Ellie, we sure love your state! The driving was kinda hard there but it was Georgia, Virginia and Tenn. that were the worst.
I am so glad you are all safe! How scary all that was. We don't go out...driving with drunks is a sure way to make it to the other side. And you know what? The drunk always says: I didn't think I had THAT much to drink!
Linda
Oh Honey! I read this to the boys and we're all in total agreement!! People are crazy out there. We had a close call last week. Some idiot turning into our lane.
So glad you're home safely! Happy New Year!
I know you were in north Florida looking for birds but this article in todays paper caught my eye and I thought you might like to look it up. It is in the Tampa Bay Times, Sunday Local news section. It is about Scrub Jays and there are only 4 males found in our county and a few scattered around the area. They do not migrate and they cannot adapt to terrain other then sandy soil and sparse scrub and short trees. The artcile was very interesting and gave more facts. It might interest you I thought.
Hope your trip was good all but the last night. Have a Happy New Year.
Linda, we were so fortunate, although it was bad enough at the time. Poor Alan was a wreck.
Cathy, thanks, the accident was ugly, but at least not too much harm was done. I find it hard to understand how people can drive the way they do. Don't they want to live?
Ellie, I will check it out. We saw a few life birds on the trip, which is always fun. So cool to visit somewhere where there are new things to see and hear...and beaches. I do love beaches. lol
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