Yet Another Brush With Death

Seriously, I consider myself lucky to post on this blog tonight. Thanks for some perceptive defensive man-thinking, I'm alive.

Today, for one of my in-service days, I had to drive to SMSU in Marshall for a huge-ass teacher's conference (my head still hurts). On my way back home in the afternoon, I was approaching a small town with a dangerous intersection. It's been known to take a few lives before, due to the way the intersection is set up. Just as you ascend a hill, there's the main intersection into the small town.

I'm driving along, crusin' at 62 mph (we're in Minnesota, remember), jammin' out to some Stone Temple Pilots, as I ascend the hill. First of all, I'm on a state highway and clearly have the right-of-way. As soon as I get to the top of the hill, I see a yellow semi-trailer (moving left to right in my point-of-view) starting to go through the intersection. At first, I'm thinking, "The guy must have popped his clutch, he's just making a 'running start'", all the while that I'm thinking that he sees me. This little thinking process takes just a second, but I'm in plain view of this semi-trailer and this driver SHOULD HAVE seen me. Even though the hill makes it a little dangerous for traffic attempting to cross the highway and into town, I am in plain sight for anyone logical person who is stopped at a STOP SIGN.

Well, the semi continues to roll through the highway. Instead of going into a panic, again, I start thinking, "This guy does not see me -- oh, shit!" Luckily for me, the semi was still going slow enough that I could react in time. I didn't slow down, I didn't speed up, but I drifted onto the shoulder while I blared my horn. When I passed the semi, I'll bet his front bumper was in my lane. WHAT A FUCKHEAD.

As soon as I passed him, I looked in my side-view mirror and it was clear that he made a mistake. He had hit the brakes, totally unaware that I even existed, and I saw his stupid head do a double-take as I went on by. That dude knew it -- he messed up and it could have been tragic.

At first, my emotions almost got the better of me -- several swear words, a lot of hatred, etc. -- almost to the point that I was about to pull off into the next exit to the town which was about a quarter-mile from the main intersection. But like all world leaders, cooler heads prevailed. I cranked up my STP and went about my way.

Ah, it's wonderful to be back in Minnesota!