1/16/09

Back in CDL school, we would go out for road trips around the streets of Detroit. The first few trips took us along fairly easy routes on the south end of town and then later trips were along more challenging routes. One day I was rolling along and a man stepped out from between two parked vans, right in front of me. I had been watching my mirrors as I was taught to do, so I knew that I could move to my left without hitting anyone. I moved over and drove past the careless fella and then got back in my lane. So I didn't kill the guy. The instructor was a grizzled old former driver who proceeded to lecture me about the nature of 'preventable' vs. 'non-preventable' accidents in this line of work. Moving over and sideswiping someone was more likely to be considered preventable than hitting someone who stepped in front of me at the last second. He was sure to include the obligatory line about not wanting to hurt anyone, but essentially he told me that the safest move with respect to my career would have been to step on the brakes and hope that the guy got out of the way. Interesting.

After sleeping with no alarm clock and then getting on the road a little late this morning, I had been making pretty good time out of Florida, through Alabama and Mississippi, and into Louisiana. I reached the point where I-10 continues westward and I-110 veers off into Baton Rouge. A jackass in a Mustang swerved out of the left lane at a high rate of speed. Listen to the old instructor and let him hit slam into my drive tires or move right and hope that I don't hit the car hanging around my rear bumper? One option was a certain wreck that would definitely not be my fault but probably kill the driver on my left. The other option was one that I was pretty sure wouldn't be a wreck, but if there was a wreck it would be my fault. Half a second (or probably less) to decide, no time to weigh the options. I trusted my instinct that the car on my right wasn't next to me yet and I moved over. No accident. That's good.

So now I was on I-110 going into Baton Rouge when I needed to be on I-10 going toward Lafayette. Asshole. I decided to take the next exit and flip myself back southbound, so that I could catch I-10 and continue on my way. Bad call. I failed to consider the fact that I was still close to the interchanges and the river and all the rest of that nonsense, so the return route wasn't nearly as simple as I thought it would be. I don't recall the exact route that I took, as I was watching for wide streets rather than street signs at that point. After a few turns onto streets that appeared wide enough to suit my needs, I managed to find my way onto I-10... eastbound. The next exit had a 'No Trucks' sign. The one after that was a two part deal. I assumed that the second one would allow me to get back to the other side of the road so I took it. I would just have to hope that there was an on-ramp for me to use over there. That one worked out just fine and I was back on my way to the west.

I got to the truck stop in Duson before deciding to call it a night. I should have no trouble reaching Laredo in one shot from here tomorrow. Beauty.