Driving Dramas

I needed to drive to North Carolina to visit my grandson and to bring home some things I had left at their house which could not come on the plane. Grant did not have the time to make such a long trek, and I really did not want to make that drive without Guinness accompanying me as my bodyguard. Karin was not fond of Guinness and never wanted him to visit. But Steve's attitude is more lenient, and he welcomed Guinness saying that Kevin would love him.

My route took me south of Erie, Pennsylvania, on 79. I noted a big rig ahead of me driving erratically, sashaying from lane to lane. Then I noted an SUV attempting to pass the truck. The trucker jerked into the left lane cutting off the SUV. The SUV moved to the right lane and tried to pass again. The monstrous truck took his half of the road out the center. The SUV couldn't win at this game, so slowed down, moving back from the truck. Now that the rig had trumped, he drove more sanely. I was now close enough to see the license plate -- PT0068ON. I sped on past the truck praying he wouldn't be mad at me. I noted that his ugly dark blue devil cab was barreling down behind me, so I went faster. I thought -- if I am stopped for speeding, I will tell the cop to go after this wild trucker. As long as I stayed twenty miles over the speed limit, I increased the distance between us. Eventually, he was off my horizon.

On the way home a week later, I was headed to an college friend's house in the panhandle of West Virginia sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania. My GPS guided me off the Interstate in Ohio and onto a small, scenic river road. At first, it was only two lanes, but it eventually became four lanes. Cruising my usual ten miles over the speed limit, I passed an ugly, old black car with three guys in it. The driver pulled out of the right lane and started tagging me. I assumed that he perferred that I be stopped for speeding instead of him. After a while, he was not just following me, but was tailing me. I considered touching my brakes to make him back off, but didn't which may have been fortuitous. I was becoming annoyed with his tailgating, when Guinness awakened and stood up. Immediately, the car passed me, not to be seen again.

When I told Grant the story, he thinks the car was stalking me. These red necks saw a Lexus from Canada with an older woman -- an easy target and one who likely had money. The usual technique is to bump a vehicle, causing it to stop, giving them the opportunity to rob or worse. After he planted that idea, I remembered that the car had passed me at one point, then pulled into the right lane allowing me to pass them again. They were probably getting a good look at their prey. Thank God for Guinness!!!