No running on the freeway!
While our drive through Mississippi two days ago was so uneventful that we had a hard time staying awake, our drive today couldn’t have been much more exciting.
We left Mississippi and drove through Alabama, with Nashville being our afternoon destination. Somewhere in Alabama, the sky turned black and I said, “Richard, wake up! Grab the camera!”
He yawned, “Why?”
I excitedly replied, “Because it looks like tornado weather and I don’t want to miss it!”
He sighed and dug under his seat for the camera. About a mile down the road, the skies opened up and I slowed to 35 mph so I could see while driving through the downpour. I got nervous when I approached an overpass and saw a dozen cars pulled over. I thought, I wonder what they know that I don’t?
So I said, “I wonder what they know that I don’t?”
Richard rolled his eyes, fluffed his pillow, and said, “Probably nothing…”
Sure enough, we came out of the downpour soon after and experienced only a few more showers throughout the afternoon.
But, I let my guard down to early. After we entered Tennessee, I put on my headphones and was cruising to John Denver (yeah, I can hear you laughing at me from here) and, out of nowhere, this guy ran full speed out of the woods, toward the freeway. I knew I was going to hit him and I hit the brakes, screaming at him (duh…like he could hear me), “DON’T RUN IN FRONT OF ME!!!”
He stopped just before he got to the shoulder, wiped the sides of his face with both hands, and turned around, looking at the woods behind him. Good thing he stopped, cause I would have hit him if he hadn’t. I’m going to spend the rest of my life wondering what that guy was running from or toward. We truly were in the middle of nowhere.
And, just a few miles later, I watched a truck, which was pulling a travel trailer, fall victim to a huge gust of wind. As the trees on the highway bent over, the trailer jerked hard, coming within inches of a passing 18-wheeler. We were on a long bridge at the time and I knew they might have gone over if they’d hit. It took a few miles for my stomach to settle down.
The freeway runner reminded me of an incident that happened earlier in the trip. We were at a truck stop one afternoon, right next to the freeway. As we were getting into the RV, Ali screamed, “Look!” We all turned and saw a toddler, running at full speed away from the truck stop, right toward the freeway. A few hundred feet behind him was a sprinting man, probably his father, racing after him. He obviously yelled and got the tot’s attention because the toddler stopped and turned around. The man reached him and scooped him up.
Lesson learned? Do NOT take your eyes off your children at rest areas and truck stops!! That baby was just a few dozen feet from the highway before he stopped.
We easily found the Nashville KOA around 6:00 p.m. and I’m sitting outside right now, enjoying the soft summer breeze. The children spent the evening swimming and made two new friends. They’re all playing cards right now and Max is watching one of his videos. He should fall asleep anytime now.
We’re here for two nights, so we won’t need to dodge any torrential rains, hurricane-force winds, or freeway runners tomorrow.