Turnpike
August 18th, 2009
Driving west in Ohio down 80/90, Rachel and I decided to stop at a rest stop for a bathroom break. It was beautiful and sunny outside and we were just heading home from five nights of camping. We pulled off the turnpike and into the rest stop, parking near a large pickup truck with just a few vacant spaces between us. There was a Mexican man with a stereotypical mustache in the driver’s seat. Rachel and I got out of the car and passed by four rough looking Mexicans who were returning to the truck. We acknowledged one another with eye contact and a slight smile but exchanged no words. We used the bathroom and headed back to the car. The five men were now in the truck. One waved at Rachel before rolling his window up while the truck pulled out of the parking space. Oddly enough we had been listening to a recent mix of Latino music I had made during our drive. We followed the truck towards the turnpike entrance, turned up the music, and hoped they would hear, and perhaps approve of our music selection. No such luck… but as we followed them I noticed the license plate was from Florida. I began to wonder how long they may have been on the road. A long time… and who knows how much longer, I had no idea where they were headed. My car and their truck remained in close proximity for a while and I thought, hey, maybe these guys would appreciate some new music. I shared the thought with Rachel who agreed but seemed a little nervous. She could only imagine what the rest of that thought was. We already had the windows down… I told her I would drive up next to the truck, we would get the guys’ attention and we could pass them the CD we were listening to. I didn’t give her much time to think about it. I drove up, hit the eject button on the CD player, handed Rachel the CD, and began to drive as close to the truck as I could whilst going 80MPH. I had never tried to drive close to another car before, it was quite interesting! I got right up next to the truck but then unintentionally slowed down while trying to get closer. I sped up, got my car right up next tho the truck, and Rachel reached out the window and successfully passed the CD to the guy in the back seat who was hanging out the window. She said she had to grip the CD pretty hard for it to not fly out of her hand. You know how hard the wind resistance is when you just stick your hand or arm out the window while on the turnpike or express way. Rachel was shaking a little after the task was completed and I was laughing uncontrollably at the fact that we were able to do it. We looked over and the guys were trying to read the label on the CD. We motioned for them to put it in and listen. They did and we gave them a questioning thumbs up as a way of asking if they enjoyed it. We got a thumbs up back and lots of smiles. Maybe forty minutes later as we were about to exit the turnpike the guys caught up next to us with the one in the passenger’s seat mouthing “thank you” as we headed down the exit ramp and they continued west… to where ever they were headed…
2 Responses to “Turnpike”
1mama
August 21st, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
You are your mothers child!
2David
August 31st, 2009 @ 1:20 am
…And that’s the lesson of the moth.
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