Almost road kill
Yesterday, I had two incredibly startling, near-hit encounters with animals. Now, I’m not talking your standard squirrel-running-under-your-car, or even a deer on a dark road (which is pretty much terrifying to me). No, I’m talking weird and alarming situations. The first was on a somewhat windy road on the way to Sandisfield. I may not have even seen it had I not noticed the driver ahead of me swerve a little. I looked to the middle of the road, and just in time was able to dodge a very large, probable very old, turtle. Here’s the thing about turtles in the middle of the road. Until you are closer to them, they pretty much look like a clump of mud, or a paper bag. Then suddenly you realize it’s this amazing, slow moving animal. Just in time to position your car to pass over it, all the time praying that you’ve guessed at the positioning just right , and that you won’t mistakenly crush the thing. The truck in front of me halted to a stop. Actually he kinda slid into the mud on the side of the road a little. And I waived as I passed him, in an attempt to say “thanks for stopping to help the turtle”. I watched in my rear view mirror as he turned around and drove back. For the rest of my drive I couldn’t help wondering what he did. I’m sure he just moved the turtle to the side of the road. Maybe he even walked it into the woods a little. But here’s the thing. What if the turtle just comes walking right back out? The thought of that turtle just sitting, unsuspectingly in the middle of that road is completely haunting.
Encounter #2. Driving home from work, a beautiful chocolate brown horse came charging out into the road. It was on the other side of the street, luckily, but it looked like it was coming straight for me. This was a pretty main street. People are going a solid 45-50 on curvy roads, and it was 5 o’clock in the afternoon. It’s amazing that there was no one coming on the other side at the moment that horse ran out. Pretty much everyone on the road came to a slow. The horse was still trotting along – a little bit to the side of the road, but coming in and out. A few cars behind me had already stopped, as the horse was now on their part of road. At this point I feel I should mention that the horse didn’t come out of nowhere. There was a farm right there, and there was even a woman walking (very casually, I might add) towards the road. In fact, she was being so casual it was hard to tell if she was even aware of the situation, or if she just happened to be walking that direction. Regardless of her, it seemed clear that the horse would be escorted off the road. But let me tell you, it’s a scary feeling when an animal that big comes charging at you, and you’re not sure if you’ll be able to stop the machine that you’re in before you hit it.
Encounter #2. Driving home from work, a beautiful chocolate brown horse came charging out into the road. It was on the other side of the street, luckily, but it looked like it was coming straight for me. This was a pretty main street. People are going a solid 45-50 on curvy roads, and it was 5 o’clock in the afternoon. It’s amazing that there was no one coming on the other side at the moment that horse ran out. Pretty much everyone on the road came to a slow. The horse was still trotting along – a little bit to the side of the road, but coming in and out. A few cars behind me had already stopped, as the horse was now on their part of road. At this point I feel I should mention that the horse didn’t come out of nowhere. There was a farm right there, and there was even a woman walking (very casually, I might add) towards the road. In fact, she was being so casual it was hard to tell if she was even aware of the situation, or if she just happened to be walking that direction. Regardless of her, it seemed clear that the horse would be escorted off the road. But let me tell you, it’s a scary feeling when an animal that big comes charging at you, and you’re not sure if you’ll be able to stop the machine that you’re in before you hit it.
