I haven’t written about a commuting adventure in quite sometime, mostly because I no longer commute. However, yesterday I took a rather long drive up to the North Country of New Hampshire for a job interview and I think it warrants a blog.
First of all, the weather was schizophrenic.
One minute it’s sunny, the next it’s torrential rain. The trees were literally steaming with all the confusion. (TREE: Am I wet or am I drying? I can’t decide!) Note the cloud banks blocking a mountain top in the photo above. (And yes, I know I need to resist using my iPhone to take pictures while I drive!)
Then it got more nervewracking for me. Apparently, there are enough accidents involving moose in that region that it’s necessary to have not only the road signs that say “Moose Crossing,” but also have GIGANTIC digital road signs that are much more specific. Example: Moose Crossing Next Five Miles Reduce Speed.
For fairly obvious reasons, that made me nervous. Moose are huge, my Toyota Echo is not. A battle between the two would result in my car being reduced to the size of a tin can. Not a happy thought.
My knuckles were white for five miles straight.
I drove up the tiny highway and watched the woods, ready to slam the brakes at the first sign of antler, when I saw something the public works department neglected to warn me about with their friendy road signs:
BEAR!
10 Feet to my right, just chilling by the side road, sniffing wildflowers – BEAR.
I nearly drove off the road.