I got an early start today. I have to catch up to the group in Mt. Vernon, IL and I want to stop and see some other people along the way as well.
I stopped and saw my friend Cherri Kraenzle who works for the St. Louis Blues. I was driving right past the Scottrade Center, so I thought I would stop and see her.
We chatted for a little while and caught up on what each other was doing. It was nice to see her. I hadn’t seen her since before she got married. She looks great and things seem like they are going well for her.
Cherri Kraenzle
I needed get going so I could make it to Mt. Vernon by the time the group got there. As soon as I got about five miles into Illinois, I ran into the group so I didn’t have to worry about being late.
When we got to Mt. Vernon, we had a nice lunch. I decided to stop and see my friend Cathy Turner who lives in Carbondale, IL. I hadn’t seen her for a long time, but it wasn’t too far out of the way. I drove down there and saw her at work. It was pretty slow, so she had time to talk. We chatted for a while and then I had to get going to catch up with the group. I almost made it to the camp site by dark.
Cathy Turner
Just before I got to the campsite, I passed through a 15 mile long deer crossing area on the interstate highway. After my Mom telling me all kinds of horror stories about people hitting deer at night, I was being extra careful.
Guess what!
Yep!! There was a deer in the road in the left lane all the way against the median wall. I immediately slowed down, trying to avoid the deer. All I could think of was that the deer was going to run against the wall and run right in front of me and I would run into it. Just as I was slowing down, the car behind me moved into the left lane to pass me. I saw the deer look up and it thought the car would scare the deer out of the left lane into the right lane and right in front of me.
That didn’t happen either. It was pretty much a “deer in the headlights’ thing and the deer just stood there and the car in the left lane just slammed into it and then did a 360 degree spin with the brakes locked up.
I stopped and checked on the car that hit the deer. It was four teenage boys. The driver said he was doing 80 MPH and didn’t even see the deer. The car’s front end was all messed up, but still drivable. Since no one was hurt, they drove back home.
Now, I was being extra, extra careful. I drove up the highway and as I drove about another ten miles, I saw an SUV on the side of the road. I slowed down to see what the problem was. It was two ladies on their way to North Carolina camping. They had a flat tire and were having problems because they couldn’t lift the tire. I told them that I would change the tire for them. It only took a few minutes, but I got the tire changed. They were very grateful that I stopped to help them.
When I was finished, the older woman cautiously said, “What do we owe you for helping us?’
I simply answered that, “My price is pretty expensive!” She got this look on her face like she didn’t really want to hear what I had to say. Her look changed to a smile when I told her that I just wanted a picture of them for my blog on my motorcycle trip. Once the picture was taken, we all went on our way.
The two ladies that I helped
I finally got to the campsite in Corydon, IN and I quickly set up my tent. I was home safe with no accidents ready for bed. Yea!
The area wasn’t very nice because the tent stakes only went in a couple inches. I put up my tent as best as I could and went to bed. By this time, it was almost 11:30.
