There are a
few stories I have written on this blog that have been designed for children
and young adults. They are simply cute,
little adventure stories for entertainment. This story, however, is an episode
taken right from the pages of my life. I
have shared it with a few people and will now place it on this blog for the
entire blog-seeing world to view. It is
a true story.
The time was a little after five
pm. I had just gotten off of work and
was driving home. It is approximately a
22 mile trek from Rochester
I was in
the far left lane, (usually referred to as the fast lane), when my little Chevy
S-10 pick-up truck hit a patch of ice. It immediately began spinning and as it
spun it was making its way in, through and around all of the cars around
me. I was holding on for deer life to
the steering wheel and all I could see flashing before me was headlights,
fenders and a general blur, like you might see while on an out-of-control
merry-go-round.
I kept
waiting for a crash, some sudden impact followed by a news-breaking 500 car
pile-up, with horns blowing and people screaming and helicopters filming it for
the six pm news. But there was none of
that. My truck came to rest on the
opposite side of the four lane freeway.
The gravel had kept me from sliding completely off into oblivion.
I couldn’t
believe I had not hit a single car as I spun across all the lanes of
traffic. It was absolutely amazing. My heart was pounding and I just sat there
for a minute trying to catch my breath and calm down. I released my grip on the steering wheel and said
a private little “Thank you” to whoever it was watching over me.
Now, as my
heart rate was getting back to normal, I had to figure out what to do. It was dark, I was facing the on-coming
traffic, sitting on the shoulder of the freeway. There was no possible way to turn my truck
around so it was facing the right way. I
couldn’t go any further left or I’d slide down into the ditch; and immediately
to my right was all the freeway traffic that was once again whizzing by me only
inches from my passenger door.
I knew my headlights must have been causing them a problem
but there was no way I was going to turn them off.
The only
option I had was to stay along the edge of the road, keeping on the gravel and
back up until I reached the next off ramp.
Then I would have to merge onto the off ramp while driving
backwards; Continue driving up the off
ramp backwards until I could find a big enough spot where I could get turned
around facing the right way. So that is
exactly what I did. Trust me, if you
think getting people to merge is difficult, try doing it while you're driving
backwards.
OK, so
about halfway up the ramp I figured it was wide enough for me to get turned
around. Fortunately the car behind me
(or in front of me) saw what I was trying to do and stayed back a ways, giving me enough room to
make my maneuver.
Now that I
was once again facing the same direction as the flow of traffic I had to get
right back onto the freeway as the exit to my house was still one mile further
north.
I merged
into the flow and as soon as I did I noticed a car off on the side of the road.
I didn’t see anyone in it. Just a little further ahead I saw a lady
trudging through the snow towards the next off ramp. She looked well dressed and obviously wasn’t
prepared to be tromping through the snow.
I pulled off onto the gravel and rolled the passenger window down. She looked over at me and I asked if she
needed a ride.
She smiled
and was excited to get in out of the cold and snow.
“Where do
you need to go?” I asked.
“Thank
you. I just need to get to the gas
station at the next exit. There is a
phone there and I can call my friend for help.”
“It looks
like your car broke down back there.” I said.
“Yea, some
jerk was driving backwards down the freeway and has traffic backed up for
miles. My car overheated.”
I dropped
her off at the gas station and then headed home. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I
was the jerk.
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