Crazy Cousin Louise Goes to Texas

 

I had had enough of her whining about being trapped at home and handed her the keys to Rigbee and said “Get out of here!” So she left.  Here’s her first report from the road…

I drove as far as Roanoke, Virginia the first day.  It was amazing to see all the snow on either side of I-81.  As night fell, the lights glinted off the snow on the trees, making a frosty fairy land view.  Beautiful, but so heavy and hard on the trees.  At least the highway was clear.

As cold as it was, Rigbee was toasty and the generator worked keeping me warm and safe.  Tripp and Tyson were happy to sleep with me, too.

Day two, I was tired but ok.  We were down below Knoxville on I-79 around mile marker 40.  There was a little blue sedan about 100 yards in front of me, a dually pulling something in front of the sedan and traffic including big trucks about a half-mile behind us. 

The dually blew up…  well, the radiator blew, thick thick thick white smoke/steam so thick that visibility was reduced to absolute zero.  And although I had 100 yards, there was no way to stop before I was IN the blind zone.

I was terrified.  “I can’t see, I can’t see.” I yelled to the only one who was listening, God.  I was on the brake, but not slamming it; steering slightly to the right, wondering where the little blue sedan was, hitting the flashers, wondering when I’d feel the impact of a truck rear-ending me or the slam of Rigbee against that little blue sedan and still braking and steering right.

I heard/felt the rumble strip on the right side tires, “YES, we’re moving over, keep going right.”  Then the rumble strip on the left…  still steering right, we came to a stop.  I wondered when I’d feel a truck into our back end. 

The steam lifted a little to the left and I could see that the rumble strip was a yard or so to our left, then I could dimly see a car going by slowly.  As the traffic rolled past us, the steam/smoke dispersed a little and gradually visibility started to return.  When I was able to see more, the first thing I noticed was that although we were well off to the right, we were still on the paved shoulder and about 50 yards ahead of us also on the shoulder was the little blue sedan.

The damn dually that blew up ahead of us was not in sight.

My hands were shaking.  I was shaking.  How we avoided tragedy must be a miracle.  I’ve had a number of close calls on the road but none where I was blind.  Totally blind.  And I knew that everyone else around me was also blind.   I trusted my instincts and Rigbee, and believed in God.  As I sat there, shaken and shaking, I gave thanks to Him over and over. 

After a couple of minutes, I turned off the flashers, put on the left turn signal, shifted back into drive and pulled out.  A Little slowly, but there was no traffic.  All this happened before a slight turn to the right with an exit ramp.  As we rounded the corner, the dually was on the ramp with it’s hood up.  It was easily a quarter mile from where it blew up.  That no one crashed, no one was hurt, and we could all drive away is a real miracle. 

I drove on.  What else could I do?

I stopped in Clinton, MS, just west of Jacksonville.  I slept for a few hours and woke up, wide awake.  So I drove on…  more to come.