New Trees and an Accident that Shut Down the Highway

It took me a while to decide if i was buying any trees this year. Financially, it just was not the right time. After doing taxes i realized i needed to rethink the budget and get rid of some things that society thought i needed to have that are just not built for the middle class to be able to afford. It took me a while to think through what i was going to do about this and as a result i didnt buy any plants this year until it was basically too late. I went to three different nurseries. I found a russian pomegranate tree with flowers all over it at the first one. We loaded that into my trunk. I drove to two more towns looking specifically for pear or mulberry trees. I missed the window on those two. I’ll have to go in february of next year. I need an asian pear for the Bartlett and a warren pear for the moonglow because the two pear trees i have now flower two weeks apart and thus never pollinate each other. I need a mate for each one that had the same blossom window and then maybe i can have pears. I was looking for mulberry trees because they are just such good and hardy producers for the area. Also pomegranates do really well in this soil and climate. So, i bought the pomegranate. I also stopped in the third city and bought a redbud tree. My oaks and cedars are dying. I’d like to add a redbud, a crape myrtle, a mountain laurel, wisteria, and honey suckle to replace the tree cover im losing but im losing it slowly so this can happen over a period of some years. I figure if i put in one decorative tree per year that’ll probably be fine as a timeline to alter the surrounding landscape. Next year ill do a mountain laurel.

Anyways, i have this car jam packed from windshield to bumper with trees as well as all my work stuff. I also had groceries. Everything was going well until i had just left comfort and was on 27 towards center point. I came upon a line of cars just stopped on the highway. I put my flashers on immediately as there was a semi behind me and i didnt want them to figure out last minute that we would be going from 75 to 0. So i slowed gradually until myself and the truck behind me came to a stop behind a line of cars and a motorcyclist. I need to mention something now because it is relevant to the behavior that will be observed in this story. The eclipse was set to happen at midday on monday. This was a Thursday. People from out of state were already gathering in camping tents and rvs in farmers’ fields. A great many arrived day of but during the week leading up to the eclipse there were a number of drivers added to the hill country that didnt really know how to drive on one lane roads. They especially didnt seem to understand 4 way and 2 way stops. They seemed to expect there should be a light there to tell them whose turn it was and they either went when it wasnt their right of way or they sat there trying to figure it out for ages when it was indeed their turn. We were told right before a state of emergency was pre-declared in a panic that was somewhat unnecessary to be tolerant of and patient with the drivers coming to our towns. We were told by the fire department as well as the sheriff. So, i was extra patient and extra nice to all these drivers. The confused ones, the in a hurry ones, and the ones that were so impatient they needed to zoom around you at 90 mph, go into oncoming traffic to pass you, and then get in only to find that the reason you were going 70 in a 75 is because the car 6 cars ahead of you was going 70 in a 75, and so everyone behind has to as well. I did not yell at, curse out, or flip off any of our visitors all week. I just shrugged and said “you do you boo” every time.

well, with an eighth of a tank of gas, a car full of groceries and trees, and having drank a water, a tea, and a smoothie before driving home, i found myself at a stand still on the only highway home. I mean, to get home without this highway, you would have to turn around, go back the way i came, make a circle, and come at my town from the opposite direction, using a different highway. It was not worth it to turn around. It would be a huge multi-hour undertaking. It was better to sit here and wait and see if they’d open the highway. I could see cars occasionally coming from the opposite direction so i knew half the highway was open. Half of it must have been shut down. I was unsure whether they were paving or they had had a wreck but when a lead car didnt arrive to take us through in twenty minutes i accessed the internet on my phone and looked up wrecks near me. There was an accident listed just ahead of me on highway 27. Okay so theres two reasons they could shut down the highway. Either theres vehicles blocking the lane or fluids and glass on the road and they need to clear it before its safe to pass through or someone has died in a fatal crash and the sheriff’s department needs to investigate and take pictures of the scene and document everything before they dismantle the crime scene in case its somebody’s fault and they end up going to trial later. Sometimes a deer runs out and its nobody’s fault. Other times somebody did something wrong that caused an accident and lawyers need evidence to hold them accountable for the consequences. Nothing was mentioned about the accident on the volunteer fire fighters facebook page and they usually document every little thing so im going to assume it was a fatal crash because it would kind of be disrespectful to selfie and blog about things of such a serious nature in the way they do brush fires or minor accidents they respond to. Anyways, i live here. Im familiar with how things go with an accident on a one lane road. It sucks but it would suck more to be the one in that car, so, you just kind of thank God it wasnt you and try not to get in the way of the sheriff or fire fighters while they do what they can to manage the scene and reopen the road.

The out-of-towners didnt feel the same way. Now you may ask me how i know these people were from out of town and i’ll tell you. Locals realize that when you drive in a lane of oncoming traffic going the wrong way all the way to the scene of a crash, there’s going to be some form of law enforcement on the ground when you get there and they’re not going to take kindly to what you are doing. I mean, what did you think you were going to find when you got there? I sat there watching them one by one. A good many people got out of line and turned around to go back to comfort. Maybe they knew people there they could hang out with and try this again in 2 hours. Maybe they went back to shop instead of wait in traffic. Maybe they needed gas. maybe they wanted to make the circle around and come at center point from the other direction. I dont know but they aborted the mission and i thought, hey, thats whats best for them but for me, i need to sit right here until the line starts moving and then ill go home. Thats the best course of action for me. So i turned on the christian radio station, put the a/c on for the trees and groceries and just stayed put patiently waiting and being glad it wasnt me in the wreck up ahead. One by one i watched cars get fed up and pull into the lane that was meant to travel back towards comfort and drive towards center point at top speed. I kept shaking my head and saying, “dont do it” for two reasons. One, i had observed and knew that the right side of the highway was closed but the left side was open as occasionally cars would come through traveling towards comfort. People pulling into oncoming traffic didnt really understand the nature of one lane roads. You cant travel forwards in that direction in that lane. You will get unalived by an oncoming car stupid. The other reason i kept telling them “dont do it”, as if they could hear me, was i was aware because i had seen them walking that law enforcement and the volunteer fire department were both on scene. What did they think these officials were going to have to say about it when they made it to the site of the crash? Were they planning to outrun them? There was a lot of city dweller behavior that i dont usually see at the site of hill country crashes. Every one of us has passed a slow car by picking a long straight stretch of road and drifting into the oncoming traffic lane momentarily to pass at one time or another. The saying goes “dont ever do it, its not worth it.” And yet we all do at some point or another when we think we can see for a long stretch. Everyone knows someone buried in the cemetery that got hit head on while trying to pass. So when a crash happens on these one lane roads we are all a bit shaken as we realize it could have been us on a different day and we kind of have a certain patience and respect for the situation. In the hill country if you tell your boss you were late because of a crash on a winding one lane road they know exactly what you’re talking about and you arent penalized or judged. These people didnt seem to understand the gravity of the situation and they were acting all kinds of impulsive and breaking all sorts of laws. They had no respect or patience for the situation as crews worked to get the road back open. They were just driving everywhere: in the wrong lane, through the fields on the side of the road…motorcyclists weaving through other cars passing everybody and then getting back in line way up ahead…. I sat with my trees and my groceries and my christian music watching all the dangerous stunts and the people turning around after apparently getting told off for driving wrong way at the crash site. I tried to play the music a bit louder for the cars around to perhaps calm them but the motorcyclist ahead of me didnt take kindly to it and got ear buds out of his backpack and put them in to listen to his own music. I then turned my music down, aware i had upset him rather than calmed anybody and not wanting to be confrontational. About half an hour later he gave up on waiting and wove through all the cars to get way up ahead. I was disappointed that i was unable to calm those around me and they continued to make impulsive and illegal traffic decisions, screeching wheels and zooming off in directions.

When the highway finally opened there was nothing left but a bit of sand meant to soak up fluids on the highway. All the cars were gone. All the people were gone. Law enforcement was even packing up. The only ones left were the fire fighters. They didnt open the road until every little bit of debris was cleared. I figured it was a serious accident if they hadnt just moved the cars off to the side and called a tow for them, then opened the road.

I stopped at the gas station in center point to fill up. So did the fire fighters, the semi truck, the motorcyclist, and all the other cars. There were lines for every pump. It was so crowded there was a line into the adjacent parking lot. I didnt think they would take kindly to me leaving the pump running and going inside to use the bathroom and there were no available parking spots at the front of the convenient store portion of the lot. Those already parked were boxed in by the line. So here i am absolutely about to pee in my scrubs, surrounded by angry people at the pump and some sullen looking fire fighters that arent saying much. Im filling the tank and i call my neighbor who lives in town near the river instead of in the hills portion like i do. I say, “this is going to be a very strange request so brace yourself. There’s been an accident and the highway was closed for an hour and the gas station is all over crowded and i dont think theres time for me to go in and use the potty because there’s a line behind the pump…i can explain more when i get there but i literally cant make it home. Im going to pee myself right now. Can i come pee in your bathroom?” She seemed stunned for a minute and was silently processing. Then she answered, “well yes that is a strange request but i am home and you can come pee in the bathroom. Ill go open the door for you now.” I finished fueling up the car, drove away from the gas station, went straight to my friend’s house, parked in her driveway, waddled up the steps to the wrap around porch, pulled open the glass outer door, and made a beeline for her guest bathroom chanting, “thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, i owe you one.” I have never had to work so hard to reverse the plan with my muscles who had been using every last ounce of everything to hold that urine in. I mean, i have a car potty, but sitting bumper to bumper in traffic surrounded by people is not the time to take your pants off and hover over a half an ozarka jug. Its meant to be used pulled off the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere without an audience. I can do it in front of cows or sheep but ive never been able to pee in front of people…even as a kid when the town we had driven to for a bike ride was closed on mondays and the public restroom was a horse trough beside the road to squat over with only a half wall providing privacy in one direction. I was supposed to squat and pee while others were also standing over the trough and peeing and i literally held that urine all day until the evening when the ride was over and we stopped in a town with a restaurant and bought something so i could use the toilet because all the adults were concerned i had done permanent damage to my kidneys.

When i emerged from the guest bathroom i thanked my best friend/neighbor and i promised next time i brought yard eggs there would be 18 instead of 12. I would not have made it home. I would have peed the scrubs for sure and then by default messed up the drivers seat in the car. There is a bathroom in the dollar general but they’ve lost the key and it depends on who is on duty if they know how to open it. Theres a thing that holds it open and whenever you use it you’re supposed to prop it open before you leave but some people forget. I couldnt risk it. The pee issue had reached critical level and i had to get to a door that would for sure be open. I could normally have just found a field but you see this time that was not an option because the fields had people in tents now. Well, my friend really came through being home and opening the front door so i could just run in and pee and a week later i did return with 18 eggs to thank her.

After all this, i arrived home only to realize it was Thursday. Fedex had delivered the weekly produce box and i had no place to put it in a car full of trees. I decided upon a solution, balancing the box on the hood of the car and driving slowly through the open fence before closing the gate and then continuing on towards the house. once at the house i parked and lifted the box off the hood of the car. The cardboard box was a bit warmed on the underside but the ice pack did its job and the produce survived well.

The trees did not in fact expire in the car sitting on the highway. they weathered the drive pretty well and were just fine as soon as i figured out how to hoist them from the trunk.

Unfortunately i dont think any of these flowers are getting polinated by my neighbor’s bees. Maybe next year once i get it in the ground and all. Its still a good solid tree.