Traveled from Knoxville, TN to Roland, OK. In route I passed through Nashville, Memphis, and Little Rock and managed to miss rush hour except for some hiccups in Little Rock.
I saw one poor trucker who parked on the entrance ramp on an inclining slope towards the ditch. You guessed it, his truck tipped over. It's most important to park on as level of ground as you can find--otherwise if the angle is to much for your shipment (especially if the load is top heavy), over you will go. One more reason to park in truck stops, rest areas, etc., and not off-ramps or on-ramps.
I learned a most interesting tidbit about driving at night on the freeway system and avoiding drunk drivers who are traveling the wrong way--headed straight at you. The guest host (Tom Sullivan) on the Rush Limbaugh show did a stint with the State Patrol for 4-years many years ago. In every accident scene he witnessed involving alcohol and driving the wrong way on the freeway (he had the night shift), the drunk always was in the fast lane. In other words, as you are driving correctly on the freeway system, the oncoming drunk would be in the fast lane (or your left-hand lane). The inebriated driver (thinking he was going the proper way), would be in the "slow lane" in his mind. So, the guest host recommended that when traveling the freeway system at night, always, ALWAYS travel in the right-hand lane except when briefly passing slower traffic. This is because more often than not, a drunk will forget to turn his headlights on and if you're both traveling at 60-MPH, you will have almost zero time to react to what is unfolding before you.
He also mentioned an alcohol "self-test" that anyone can do to determine if they've had too much to drink and should not drive (Obviously, alcohol impairs reasoning and judgment first. So perhaps the host of a gathering should perform this "test" before each of the driving guests depart). It's really simple. Step One: Stand on one foot for 15-seconds. Lift the other leg off the ground as much as you want--just don't let it touch the ground for 15-seconds. Step Two: Then, switch--hold the other foot off the ground for 15-seconds. Really sauced-up individuals can't do step one. If you have enough alcohol in your system where you can't do step two without tapping your foot on the ground to hold your balance, then you shouldn't drive. The "trick" is the transfer of weight from one foot to the other. In other words, the brain handles step one no problem (unless you're hammered). However, step two throws the brain for a loop in that it is used to balancing the weight of the one foot just fine. However, because the judgment of the brain is impaired by alcohol, enough alcohol will cause the brain to miscalculate and adequately adjust/transfer the weight of the right foot to the left foot (or vice-versa) when step two is implemented. Interesting--hey?!
Well...yawn...today was a good driving day. Tomorrow I will spend New Year's Eve in New Mexico. Drive safe everyone!
miles driven = 659
8:03:06 PM
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