This is a hard story to write as there is no great ending
and no funny lines attached. It was a Stephen King novel come to life and I was
in it!
We had driven to Detroit on Saturday to see two of my sons
and their families, and we met up at a Sports Bar and watched the Michigan-Ohio
State football and ate nachos etc. and had a great time, even the though the
game was a bit of a disaster. We visited with my first wife and my former
father-in-law for an hour before we returned home. Add to this a bit of
shopping and it made for a very full day.
Driving into Michigan in the morning, for several miles
after you enter on Route 94, coming over the Blue Water Bridge into Port Huron
Michigan, the road is very torn up by construction. It’s a lane wide and in the
day time you can see but at night there are no lights for most of the
construction (or repair) portion. They have cones erected on both sides of the
lanes and some lines left on the highway, and it goes on a few miles, maybe 5
to 10 of them. Going over I noted how bad it was and knew the return would be
horrible.
After some dinner and getting gas in New Baltimore Michigan,
we moved toward that part of the highway. It was a clear night, and although
very dark it was passable. The posted speed limit when I could see one was 60
mph coming down from the normal 65 or 70 of the highway.
As I have gotten older, night driving makes me a bit more
concerned and in bad weather it scares the hell out of me but this was a clear
evening. I moved along, and recognised there are no shoulders to go on to,
there is no-see darkness on the side of the cones, just construction equipment
parked and highway run offs. I was uncomfortable at 60 mph, but do my best and
was going over 50 and probably was at 60 as a car came up behind me and got on
my bumper. He drove about 12” from my rear bumper and would not move off. He
(or she, we could not see) continued, brightened his lights, and finally, in his
or her complete frustration leaned on the horn!
I thought for a second maybe something was wrong with my car
and a hand was hanging out of the trunk, but I knew nothing was wrong. I tried
to speed up, but was actually scared of flying off the road into construction
and killing us both. There were no other cars on the road and he was in some
sort of a hurry I guess.
After a while he did it again! He got close as he could and
leaned on the horn again and would not stop. There was no place to pull off or
stop! If I stopped he would have to stop behind me or shoot me or push me off
of the road but he could not have gotten around me easily. I would have been
happy to leave him room, believe me!
This continued for the whole 5 to 10 miles and finally, a
mile or two before the bridge it opened and I went to the right lane, the lights
appeared on the road and he shot off onto the last exit in Michigan and I went
onto the Bridge to Canada exit!
I never saw the vehicle or saw a licence number. The “should
haves” are few, as there were limited possibilities.
The “should
haves”:
My wife should have
called 911 and reported it while it was it was happening.
I should carry a hand
gun as I would have easily used it. (Not legal in Canada but after shooting him
I could have tossed it in Michigan)
Have a James Bond car
device and spread an oil slick on the road behind me.
Have a box of tacks
to throw out the back to blow his tires.
What I did was to go home and calm down. I had a beer and
went to bed and wrote this post
However, it was just like a Stephen King book, the one they
made into a movie with the trucks, “Maximum Overdrive”, and I was the star!.
