It is a little difficult to believe, that we had a fall day here in central Texas, yesterday. The day had everything one could want! It was cool and it rained off and on through the day. The rain was not a large amount, (somewhere between ½ to 1 inch depending on where you were), but it was very much appreciated. The temperature yesterday was in the high 70s, which was so nice, seeing the temp was 98 the day before and is predicted to be in the mid-90s today.
One day of nice weather out of the entire summer!
Someone ask if I had done my rain dance in the nude, and did that bring the rain. I explained that I had done my rain danced in the nude. Then she asked, did you dance before it rained or during the rain? I borrowed a presidential candidate’s comment, “What difference does it make!”
This morning, as I prepared for my morning walk, I was somewhat surprised to see that it was foggy as I exited the Ford Homestead. The fog was fairly dense. I knew that I should not be disappointed with this condition as it was due to the very nice rain we had received yesterday.
With all this fog, I was unable to see the end of our street, but being the adventurer that I am, I set forth. The dense fog did not keep me from my morning meditation. After my initial meditation (positive thoughts and being appreciative for another day) I understood the weather was influencing my thought process. Considering the fog, my vast memory began to unfold, as if a movie was being played in my head.
There I was, in my dad’s car, I believe it was a 1963 Mercury Comet. I was on my way to pick up my then girlfriend, who lived in McClure Illinois, I lived in Cape Girardeau Missouri. I had to drive across the old Mississippi Bridge (which no longer exists) and then drive about 5 miles, through what was in those days, farm land. Yes there was a couple night clubs along the road as soon as you entered Illinois.
The road was straight for a few miles then there was an intersection. There was a stop sign before you would either turned north or south on Highway 3. I would turn north and drive another mile or so before arriving at McClure.
All that information was to help you understand the circumstances that were present, that night when I was returning the young lady to her home.
I am sure we had a typical night of driving up and down Broadway probably 5 or 6 times, stopping and talking with friends and possibly having a hamburger before returning the young lady to her home.
The night had been normal until we started for home about 11:45pm, as she needed to be home at midnight. All was well as we crossed the Mississippi Bridge. You should understand the bridge was a tall bridge and as we began down the Illinois side we could see the fog.
I should have turned around and went back to Missouri, but being 17 years old and considering myself an expert driver, I continued on. The fog was so bad that I had rolled the window down and stuck my head out of the driver’s side window trying to see the road. There was a broken white line (white dashes of paint on the road) for the center line, and I could only see one white line ahead of me.
Naturally I had slowed down to a crawl and I was hoping that no one would run into the back of me. The road was totally flat, as this area was old recovered river bottom land flat as a flitter, (I use to hear people in Missouri say flat as a flitter but I don’t know if there is such a thing as a flitter).
We finally made it to highway 3 after what seemed to be an hour of driving without seeing much of anything. The stop sign popped up and we stopped. I could not see if there were any cars coming, I had to take a chance and pullout on Highway 3.
Feeling kind of happy that we had made it this far, we began what we thought was the last leg of this journey. We were driving 10 to 15 mph and could still see only one white line in front of us. We had driven for a few minutes and knew we should be getting close to our turn off into McClure.
We were surprised when we saw the yellow bug lights of a small motel that was on the other side of McClure. We had driven past both turn offs to McClure by about a mile. The yellow bug lights were kind of like fog lights on a big truck allowing us to see how to turn around.
On the way back we kept our eyes open watching the side of the road for any turn offs. There was a Bar with a lot of lights that was on Highway 3 near the second turn off and we almost did not see it.
We found the bar and found the turn off.
I got the young lady home safely.
Yes, I did drive home after mid night, alone, in the densest fog I have ever encountered.
It was amazing as I begin to go over the Mississippi Bridge the fog totally disappeared.
My brain is back to normal, movie has stopped now.
May your day be bright and cheerful!
Don Ford
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