True SUV Tales of Action Adventure
True story.
Two weeks ago, I was on my way down I-64 to Canis Major, home of the inimitable Canis Major. Just outside of Charlottesville (VA, that is), one mile West of the Crozet exit, all traffic comes to a dead stop. After sitting at said dead stop for several minutes, I called up CM to inform him that I'd undoubtedly be late, perhaps very so. Signing off, I got out of my trusty Honda Accord to scout out what was going on up ahead. Soon CM called back to inform me that he had called a local radio station and been told that a tractor-trailer had overturned, caught on fire, and exploded, blocking all lanes of 64, East- and West-bound.
After chatting with some folks about the situation, I began the return trip to my car, resolved to drive down the shoulder, get off at Crozet, and make my way East via 250. As I'm walking up the shoulder, some others with the same idea come driving down it, stopping to ask me what I know. When I tell them, they take off down the shoulder with a vengance.
Getting back to my car, I take off after them. But after about a half a mile, most of our little caravan comes to a halt. Turns out that a tractor-trailer has for some reason stopped with its left half in the right-hand lane and its right half on the shoulder. Since everything's at a dead stop, the truck can't move. The first few cars made it through between the truck and the guardrail...but the third or fourth vehicle in line was an SUV. The tractor-trailer was too close to the guard rail, and the SUV couldn't squeeze through. We sat there for five minutes while the land behemoth moved almost imperceptibly forward and back, trying to fit through the gap, blocking egress for ten cars. Finally the driver gave up and pulled back onto the highway, leaving the shoulder clear for the rest of us to get through and get off the interstate. The Accord squeezes through with only inches to spare on each side.
I have to admit that my irritation was mixed with joy at seeing that the Extreme He-Man Action Adventure Wagon--complete, no doubt, with built-in Extreme First Aid Kit--couldn't cut it in our little mini-quasi-emergency, and was proved, in this case, inferior to our Hondas, Tauruses, and Jettas. I realize that this probably makes me a bad person, but there it is.
True story.
Two weeks ago, I was on my way down I-64 to Canis Major, home of the inimitable Canis Major. Just outside of Charlottesville (VA, that is), one mile West of the Crozet exit, all traffic comes to a dead stop. After sitting at said dead stop for several minutes, I called up CM to inform him that I'd undoubtedly be late, perhaps very so. Signing off, I got out of my trusty Honda Accord to scout out what was going on up ahead. Soon CM called back to inform me that he had called a local radio station and been told that a tractor-trailer had overturned, caught on fire, and exploded, blocking all lanes of 64, East- and West-bound.
After chatting with some folks about the situation, I began the return trip to my car, resolved to drive down the shoulder, get off at Crozet, and make my way East via 250. As I'm walking up the shoulder, some others with the same idea come driving down it, stopping to ask me what I know. When I tell them, they take off down the shoulder with a vengance.
Getting back to my car, I take off after them. But after about a half a mile, most of our little caravan comes to a halt. Turns out that a tractor-trailer has for some reason stopped with its left half in the right-hand lane and its right half on the shoulder. Since everything's at a dead stop, the truck can't move. The first few cars made it through between the truck and the guardrail...but the third or fourth vehicle in line was an SUV. The tractor-trailer was too close to the guard rail, and the SUV couldn't squeeze through. We sat there for five minutes while the land behemoth moved almost imperceptibly forward and back, trying to fit through the gap, blocking egress for ten cars. Finally the driver gave up and pulled back onto the highway, leaving the shoulder clear for the rest of us to get through and get off the interstate. The Accord squeezes through with only inches to spare on each side.
I have to admit that my irritation was mixed with joy at seeing that the Extreme He-Man Action Adventure Wagon--complete, no doubt, with built-in Extreme First Aid Kit--couldn't cut it in our little mini-quasi-emergency, and was proved, in this case, inferior to our Hondas, Tauruses, and Jettas. I realize that this probably makes me a bad person, but there it is.
posted by Winston Smith at
10:12 AM
1 Comments:
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