The Race Is On

And the race is on, I thought as I checked my rearview mirror, clicked on my blinker, and slipped between two cars in the left lane of the freeway. It was my only chance to get out of the slow lane and, though I was punished by the blaring horn of the car behind, I had no choice. Move or be stuck forever. I had many miles to go before I’d reach home and the faster I could get there, the better. I was tired, and while I was glad to be on the way home, my mood was wracked in disappointment over the events that had unfolded over the weekend.

The freeway was only two lanes going in each direction across the Mackinaw Bridge. You’d think in upper Michigan, there would be very little traffic, but this was Sunday afternoon. I’d heard stories about the rush to get out of Detroit and “up north” on Friday nights and the return rush on Sundays but I’d just never experienced it before in person.

While driving in the left lane, I soon found that if you left even half a car length between you and the car in front of you, it was quickly taken by those trying to get out of the slower lane. The fast lane was not much faster, but the right lane was frustratingly slow. The traffic flow had a “get there first” persona that was obvious.

Once in the faster lane, I thought I could put on the Cruise Control and relax.

I was wrong.

Suddenly behind me, the horn that had previously honked started a staccato of beeps. I glanced up to the rearview mirror to see that the car had been replaced…with flashing red lights. Oh, no, I thought. An ambulance!

I looked to the right to see if I could pull over but the line of traffic in the slow lane was like a tightly rolled sausage. No way would I be able to get in there. On the left there was only a shoulder but I saw it was the only direction I could go. I put on my blinker and started moving left when I realized, like partners dancing, the ambulance was doing the same thing. I began to panic and jerked the steering wheel back to the right. There he was again….and he was honking some more. In my mirror I could see he was also being very vocal. I just didn’t know what to do. Every move I made the ambulance made the same one.

Finally, I put on my blinker and started easing to the right as far as I could. The car next to me sounded his horn loudly so I stayed a much to the right as I could in my lane. The ambulance driver saw what I was doing and headed left onto the shoulder to pass around me. As he whipped by, I looked over but he was concentrating now on the car that was in front of me. What an awful job, I thought.

I relaxed a little bit after pulling back into my lane. The guy in the car beside me made an obscene gesture as I drove by him but I just shrugged. What else could I have done?

Still on edge from the experience, I saw a break in the right lane and felt the need to slow things down. I put on my blinker and eased over into the open space and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing could be that bad, I thought.

I was, again, wrong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red pickup truck pull next to me and slow down. I glanced over to see a young man who had obviously not shaved in a while. He looked over at me, honked and waved. For an instant, I thought maybe he might be someone who knew me because he waved in such a friendly manner. I looked again more intently. Nope. He was no one I knew but unfortunately, my glance seemed to encourage him. He honked again. I looked straight ahead trying to ignore him. He honked a third time so I looked over and mouthed “What????!” throwing both hands in the air and then back to the steering wheel. He just grinned.

Oh, dear…the man had three of his front teeth missing. He rolled his tongue over his lips very suggestively and then grinned again. This was something I most certainly did not need. I took my foot off the accelerator ever so slightly and slowed just a little thinking that the traffic behind him would force him to keep going. But I was wrong. He saw what I was doing and pulled up, squeezing right in front of me…and then he slowed too. He waved through his back window at me. Why was this happening to me? All I wanted was to just get home safe and to forget this weekend ever happened.

I looked in my rearview mirror again and saw a small space between two cars coming toward me in the fast lane. I checked my timing and with a jerky movement, pulled between the two cars. The angry honking sounded. I felt bad. They had no idea what was happening or what they were saving me from. They just thought I was another crazy driver.

I quickly swept past the red pickup, not looking his direction as I went by. Hoping that the problem was solved, I decided to stay in the fast lane tucked in the safety of traffic flow. One more time, I was wrong. As I watched in my mirror, I was amazed. There he was, weaving left and right through the traffic until he was directly behind me again.

I have no idea why he picked me to harass that day and I had no intention of finding out. How dare he put my life and the lives of everyone around us in danger, I thought. Becoming angry, I knew I had to deal with this stupid game so I formulated a plan in my head.

I spied space in the slower lane again and carefully slipped in and slowed. He pulled up beside me and smiled. This time I smiled back. In fact, I didn’t just smile, I grinned and waved. He was so happy! I motioned him to pull in front of me. I could see he was beside himself with glee. The sign along the roadway stated that the next exit was one mile ahead. When the exit sign came into sight, I turned on my blinker and pointed so he could see that I was going to pull off at the exit. He turned on his blinker too.

The exit came up fast. He veered off onto the exit ramp and I started to also. As he headed down the exit anticipating our first meeting, I swerved back left into the lane and continued forward. The car behind me honked loudly and angrily but it was a small price to pay. I signaled to her that I was sorry for the confusion as if I was an idiot and then sat back and relaxed. I chuckled at the thought of “Mr. Toothless” when he realized that the liaison he’d worked so hard to get, was not going to happen.

I also realized that I was not made to participate in “the race”. At the next exit, I pulled off and plotted a route using the back roads. It took me a lot longer to get home that day but I have to say, it was a lovely trip! There was very little traffic. I opened my windows, turned up the stereo and sang as the wind blew through my hair. Now that is the way to travel!

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Tags:

car, highway, stress and travel