Near Death on the Highway
Trip Start
Unknown
1
3
7
Trip End
Ongoing
Longmont, Colorado
Wednesday, September 29, 1982
The first happening was kind of funny. Ed had given me a 5 gallon gas can to carry in case he needed gas. As we were driving along, Ed was in front of me and pulled over. I slowed but he waved me on and eventually caught up to me. This happened two other times without incident. The time after that was different. In eastern Kansas, I drove for about 25 miles and Ed never caught up. So I turned around at the next exit and 20 miles back I see Ed on the other side of the highway pushing his bike. He had run out of gas and since he had waved me on before, I just blew by him again. The earlier stops was some throttle issue that he had taken care of but this time it was just plain old running on fumes. Problem solved, we headed back on the road to Colorado.
To fully appreciate the next event, we have to go back in time to the night before. Our pre graduation party went on all night. I in my youthful spirited and happy ways got involved in a contest of sorts which involved shots of Jack Daniels and Beer chasers. At some point, already slightly intoxicated, Ed drove me and my Pontiac to pick up Pizza for the party. I may have been slightly annoying to him as he gave me a dollars worth of quarters and told me to go play PAC Man while we waited for the pizza. Due to my somewhat diluted state of coordination, it took me all of 30 seconds to lose 4 games as I couldn't get PAC Man out of the corner where he started. Not a good omen of things to come. The party went on until about 4:30 in the morning when I was deposited at my apartment. This wouldn't have been too bad except we had to be at graduation at 7:00 A.M. I awoke to a knocking sound at 6:30 A.M. Ed was at the door saying, "Let's go graduation is in a half hour." I told him to go on without me as I hadn't packed up yet. That and the fact that I didn't exactly smell clean and refreshing unless your idea of that is a smoking still. By the time I packed, cleaned the apartment, and got to graduation it was 10:30. That is where my surname came in handy as they were going in alphabetical order and were just finishing up the T's. The only one who showed up later than me and most likely more inebriated was our instructor!! Graduation complete, Ed and I put Oklahoma City in our rear view mirror at just around noon.
Back in Kansas, driving along I-70, I suddenly felt a large amount of vibration. Opening my eyes in time to realize that I was no longer on the pavement was an exhilarating yet terrifying feeling. Luckily I was able to control the vehicle and get back on the asphalt. Detox and sleep deprivation were obviously not going well. I sped up to catch Ed and pulled off at the next exit. I told him of my near death experience and that I was going to stop and rest for an hour or so. He could go on if he wanted. He chose to wait. The exit we had gotten off of had a sign with an arrow on it which said Church of the Plains. We drove a few miles and there was a church and nothing else around. I told Ed to wake me up in an hour. He said Okay and that he was going to drive and see what else was around. I stretched out with my feet out the window to catch a short nap.
I was surprised to wake up 3 hours later to discover Ed leaned against the church sleeping with his head on his helmet. He told me he drove around and there was nothing here so he guess he was more tired than he thought. As my designated chauffeur, he did not have the pleasure of sobering up but still did not get any more sleep than me. We both felt better and continued our journey to Longmont.
You would think that one near death experience was plenty bu this was not the case. As we approached Eastern Colorado around midnight, it started to rain. It was a light rain so Ed chose to just push on. I was in the lead in the left lane with my brights on. All of a sudden I notice a big owl on the highway ahead of me. I tapped my brakes not wanting to skid figuring I had already tempted fate today. I thought for sure that I was going to hit the owl when at the last minute it took off and flew right over my hood barely missing the car. We later stopped for gas in Limon and I asked Ed if he had seen the owl. "See it, he said, it nearly took my head off" As it came over my hood he was behind me and in the right lane. My vehicle shielded the bird and Ed had to duck or become buzzard food.
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful and we pulled into the Best Western in Longmont at three in the morning. Denver ARTCC in Longmont, Colorado. Who knew it would last so long?
