This weekend

So this weekend I planned to go visit Alex. I and 2 Craiglist ride-sharers (MaryAnn and Theresa) all headed down for the long 9 hour car ride. About 2 hours from san Francisco, I was wedged in the slow lane wit a freight truck on the side curving under a bridge when a 3 foot long 40 lb piece of metal appears right into my lane. It was too late to dodge and it made a horrible sound as it tore through the undersides of my car. I pulled to the side to see a stream of cooling fluid leaking out of my poor car.

Luckily, this occurred right before an exit, I quickly asked where the closest repair shop was and hoped something would be open at 6pm. Luckily again, the repair shop was only 1 mile away and I revved up my now overheating car and turned it off and cruised in neutral until momentum stopped us. Luckily I only had to push the car about 20 yards to the shop and we called ahead so they were expecting us.

However it was past their closing time. They said they could order parts but they wouldn't be able to fix the car until tuesday because of the holiday monday. The estimate, which was smack on was $1500. Now this isnt the end of the story my friends. So a Pissed off Ben, waiting for Alex to drive 2 hours to pick us up, with a Foo-Man-Chu facial hair and a black wife-beater walked down the grass about 20 feet off the highway to see what destroyed his car and see if the metal object could be traced somewhere. It was dark by now and all of a sudden a cop car shows up, flashed lights, and puts a soptlight on me,...then another....then another...then 2 more show up. Now with 4 cop cars surrounding me they ask me over the loudspeaker why I'm walking on the side of the road and where is my car? I speak to respond and the cop speaker says they can't hear me and to shake my head Yes or No. Well, as you might have figured out this is not a YES or NO question. I think I signaled both to cover my bases. I think the cops finally caught on and came out of their cars to frisk me and check my ID. 6 cops, all with hands on their guns surround me and ask me what I'm doing out here. I tell them my story and that I'm trying to find that metal object, and make sure its off the road so it can cause no one else any problems. The cop tells me to get in the cop car.

Now I'm hesitant. I'm wondering if I'm going to be put in the front or back seat. Walking on the grass outside a highway is illegal (even if 20 feet away from the road)and with my luck I'm expecting to be brought to the station and spend my weekend there. Luckily, he just wanted to go back to verify my story and find this "metallic object". He was a little surprised when we found that giant mass of metal and I think you thought I was lying about it all. I did look kinda sketchy.

Anyho, he dropped me off, Alex arrived and the rest of the story will have to wait....to be continued.