Now that I've entered into my third trimester, the sleepiness is beginning to rear its ugly head, again. I was heading home from work and I was having MAJOR trouble staying awake. I drove until I could get on the turnpike and pulled over at the overpass next to the ODOT building. I always feel safer pulling over there. That's the only stretch of road on my commute that actually has a shoulder to pull off on. Plus, it's close to D's office and I know that if something happens to me, at some point, a trooper will be coming by there. After I pulled over, I set the timer on my phone to go off in 15 minutes ..... or so I thought. Twenty minutes later I woke up because my right arm was going to sleep and the phone was still in my left hand and I'd never hit "start" on the timer. Oops. And my contacts and eyelashes were sticky. I hate that, but it's better than falling asleep at the wheel, so I dealt with it. I lifted my seat back into an upright position and away I went.
About 5 miles later, a trooper was coming up behind me, running hot. I pulled to the shoulder and let him by and thought, "I wonder where he's going?" Figuring there was a crash ahead, I stayed in the outside lane and continued on down the road, still driving 65 mph even though the speed limit on the turnpiek is 75. I like to conserve my gas, so I always drive 65. Anyhoo, half a mile later, we rounded the curve and there was A TON of black smoke billowing into the air and I thought, "That's probably where he's going." I'm smart like that. See smoke and a trooper running hot? Hmmm, there must be something going on.
Sure enough, after the next curve, even though I was stopped about 1/4 mile away, I could see that there was a car on fire. My first thought, not knowing what had happened, was that I hoped everyone was okay and perhaps my impromptu nap was a blessing in disguise. If this were an accident, it could have been me involved if I hadn't been stopped on the side of the road catching a little snooze. And I said a little prayer for the people in the car and a thank-you that I was safe.
See that white car on the shoulder up ahead? He was just a looky-loo who's only concern was that he was almost out of gas. I had been stopped for a couple of minutes and traffic was starting to back up when I saw him coming up behind me on the shoulder. I honked and gave him the what-the-hey look and he stopped and I shook my head in disgust. What makes people think that what they're doing and where they're going is more important than anyone else? I swear, people can be so selfish and impatient. He stopped beside me and 63 seconds later he started honking his horn at me, so I rolled down my window. "Can you see any better from up there? Can you see what's going on?" (I drive an SUV, he was in a smaller car). "Well, it looks and smells like a car fire, so I assume that's what's going on." I wanted to quote Bill Engvall and say, "Here's your sign."
"I'm almost out of gas," he said, as if that excuses his poor decision to drive down the shoulder in an effort to get closer to the crash and see if he could go around. Dude, do you see all of the cars stopped? Do you see the two troopers with the road blocked because the smoke is covering the roadway and it's not safe for anyone to pass, yet? Shouldn't those two things be a clue that we're not going anywhere anytime soon?
"Then I guess you'd better turn off your engine," I said. I would think this kind of thing would be a no-brainer, but apparently it's a much harder concept to grasp than I thought. He sat there for a few minutes then pulled forward and joined in with some other looky-loos who were changing lanes and parking in the middle of the lanes and on the shoulder to get a better look at what was going on ahead. With several of the motorists in front of and behind me parked on the shoulder and knowing that the fire department wasn't on scene yet, I figured there might be a problem arise when the fire truck responded from behind us. And, sure enough, this old gal was correct. Here came the fire truck, blaring its horn and suddenly there was a lot of "Uh-oh! What am I to do now?" going on as the people on the shoulder scrambled to get their cars out of the way. So, here's your free lesson for the day: When stopped in traffic due to an accident or other emergency and when the lanes of traffic are blocked by stopped traffic, don't pull your car onto the shoulder and park there - the EMERGENCY VEHICLES NEED A LANE OF TRAFFIC, too. How would you feel if you were the one in need of the emergency responders and they couldn't get to you because there were too many looky-loos blocking their way?
A little bit later a man came jogging up the shoulder ..... another looky-loo. SMH. He started walking just after he passed by me and, honestly, I had to laugh. He had on a leather style waist coat with the collar turned up and pointed toed shoes. The outfit made me think of Throwback Thursday; it did not look like modern attire. The way he strutted with that getup on made me laugh out loud! Like he was the cock of the walk or something, like a little banty rooster strutting around the yard! I'm telling you, it was like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever"! Hahahahaha! I'm still giggling about it. He walked about 50 yards ahead of me and turned around. Then I saw a white pickup coming up behind me on the shoulder. People, please, please, please, stop this. It is dangerous. Mr. Looky-loo walker got into Mr. Looky-loo pickup and then they sped ahead, trying to get a better spot in line - which, on a personal note, I find to be very rude. We've all been waiting just as long or even longer, wait your turn. SMH.
Just a couple of minutes later, the roadway was opened and we were all on our way. As you can see, the car was completely burned up, but thankfully, no one was injured. It wasn't actually an accident and he didn't hit anything, his vehicle just caught fire. I don't know why. I don't know why she swallowed a fly, I guess she'll die. Oops, sorry, I always sing that song in my head when someone says, "I don't know why." I'm cool like that. Jealous? I think I may have ADHD.
I made it home 90 minutes after I left work, but at least I made it home!
Safe travels, peeps!
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