Rain And Walking
12 hours ago
Sunday, June 14, 2015
A couple of swamp donkeys to end a long road trip
The local slang name for moose in these parts is “swamp donkey.” Okay then . . . Moose are big -darn big. From the front seat of my wife's little economy car they are freaking ginormous. After several days travel through bad roads and heavy traffic, we almost get squashed by a couple of monsters three miles from home. Good thing my wife's car has excellent brakes.
We drove all the way from northern New Hampshire to Rhode Island. (doesn't matter where in RI, it's not that big a state). The section of Rt. 95 that we travel from Massachusetts to Rhode Island is an hour and a half trip with light traffic. Friday afternoon it took over three and a half hours. Sitting in traffic, temps in the high 80s, it was nice to have a car with working air conditioning. Sometimes it's the little things.
In spite of the delay we made it to our destination. Now I'm a guy who wouldn't cross the street to see the World Series baseball game with free tickets in my pocket. However, driving a couple states over to see an 8 year old granddaughter play softball makes perfect sense. Priorities.
After we left there we spent a couple days with my oldest daughter's family in Massachusetts. Then it was off back home to New Hampshire, by way of Maine. Once again I was glad to be driving a tiny car rather than the big van. The coastal roads are narrow, twisty and full of traffic. The car just slipped into a parking space at the York Maine lighthouse park. Then we were off to visit friends on the way home.
Our trip was a good day and half longer than planned, although “planned” might be overstating the case. This trip was a last minute deal that just happened to come together.
The one time I missed having the massive van was when we came to a stop next to those moose. Dang them swamp donkeys are big.
-Sixbears
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Glad you're enjoying the new car. As for the moose, God must have been smiling on the lot of you.
ReplyDeleteHe smiles on the lot of us a lot.
DeleteGlad you are ok. Haven't ever seen a moose but I hear they tend to be large. Anti-lock brakes are a wonderful thing. :)
ReplyDeleteGood brakes and good high beam headlights made a big difference.
DeleteWe have a lot of deer accidents here - would hate to see the damage a moose would do. Glad you avoided a disaster and had a good trip seeing your family and friends.
ReplyDeleteI hit one years ago and it ain't pretty. Was in a minivan at the time. Good thing I wasn't going very fast.
DeleteHitting a moose would be worse than hitting a cow!!
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly no better!
DeleteSaw a moose the first day I came to New Hampshire to look at property. Now, it's kinda common place, lol! We have a mama moose and her yearling calf that hang out on our property. They are curious about our livestock, especially the alpacas!
ReplyDeleteCareful, the young males have been known to fall in love with livestock.
DeleteWe have deer here you have to look out for, but no moose. The county keeps the foliage cut way back from the roads, but people drive way too fast and still run down everything from turtles to deer.
ReplyDeletePeople drive too fast. Moose are often seen in that area so I was only going about 35 mph. Much easier to stop.
DeleteUnlike deer, the eyes of moose do not reflect headlights. They are the color of darkness.