A long time ago, I got a call from Dan. He was on the side of the road in Montana. He had been driving home from the truck center. He had been driving for a few days and he was tired.
But when he called he was a bit excited.
He had hit a deer.
On the highway.
Going home.
Wrecked the car.
Hurt the deer.
But he was fine.
I remembered the long lecture I got about driving on dark roads in the country. After all I had just had a physical discussion with a boar and my father-in-law's car. (The boar lost)
So he was at the side of the road with a crushed front end telling me to be careful.
At the time I could have strangled him.
But today, driving to our new house in the middle of nowhere, in the Coast range, I almost got my own deer. Four of them to be exact.
Two of them came leaping across the road and I had plenty of time to miss them.
The third one had to have been on a death mission. I missed him with significant room but only because of what Dan had told me.
Watch the sides when you see one.
One leapt out and the fourth stayed put.
They were beautiful creatures and all I could see was Dan at the side of the road.
Lessons well learned.
Thanks for the lecture, Dan.
Deer on roads terrify me, especially when I'm on the bike. I've only encountered them once--in the city of all places--two of them standing there in the middle of the street looking at me like, "Well? Haven'tcha ever seen a deer before?"
ReplyDeleteI stopped the bike well away from them and waited, ticking off the driver of the car behind me, but what was I going to do? Try to ride around them?
They stood there for about a minute, and I'm pretty sure they were laughing at me. But I'm still afraid that one day one will leap out at the bike. And that won't be pretty...