Saturday, April 9, 2011

Roadkill skunk or unintential dispersion of radioactive materials: which is worse?

Sorry this post is so late.  This is about Thursday's drive over to Atlanta.

So the first exciting thing that happened was that I saw a skunk run over on the left side of the highway.  This means two things.  First, that I saw my first roadkill skunk (win for life experiences).  Second, that the skunk managed to make it all the way across three lanes of highway before it got killed in the fourth lane.  I accidentally (re)ran it over, and I wondered for a few minutes if I would have skunkness on my tires--fortunately that does not seem to be the case.

The second exciting thing that happened was a semi crash.  All of a sudden, right near the border from South Carolina going into Georgia, there was a huge backup of traffic.  Being as I reeeeeally needed to go to the bathroom, I went ahead and stopped at SC exit 1, got back on the road, and I think the crash was maybe a couple exits into Georgia.  When we come up on the crash, the first thing I see (before the semis) is two hazmat trucks with their lights on.  They're from different organizations (one was "Rural Oconee County Hazmat-Decon" and the other was something different), and I see people wandering down into the woods next to the road, apparently on some sort of search.  We drive up a little, and the next thing I see is a semi on the right shoulder of the road, buckled in the middle and leaning pretty strongly to the right.  Up ahead of that semi looks to be another one...? but I couldn't tell since we were all already accelerating past.  Since this is really out of the ordinary, I called my husband to share my experience.

Husband--"Was it a tanker truck?"
Me--"No, that's what confused me...  It was one of those normal, boxy, dingy white ones that aren't labeled that could be carrying anything."
Husband--"You know they carry drums in those sometimes."
Me--"No, I didn't."
Husband--"Where was it?  South Carolina?"
Me--"A little bit inside Georgia."
Husband--"You might not want to get out again for a while."
Me--"I stopped to pee like an exit up the road."
Husband--"Oh!  You got a dose.  I'm glad you aren't feeling sick yet."

You will be happy to know that I still don't feel sick, and that even in the absence of evidence of any sort, I've decided that I have been dosed with radiation and am completely immune.

Unmarked trailers could contain deadly radioactive substances.  Be aware of your surroundings.

No comments:

Post a Comment