Is that an Armadillo in your pocket?

My recent trip to Texas reminded me of the greatest story ever (except that there's no sex in it.)

When I was 24 I moved from San Diego back to Massachusetts.  I drove a huge UHaul van with all of my stuff in it and towed my car behind it.  My friend A- drove with me.  BECAUSE SHE'S AWESOME.

We both looked about 12 and we definitely got some strange looks from the truckers who saw us pull in to the diners at midnight. 

One of the best parts of our trip came when we decided that we wanted to take a picture of an armadillo.  We saw millions of smashed armadillos on the side of the road but couldn't find one that still looked armadillo-ish enough to photograph.  Finally we saw a couple but A- had a hard time timing the camera to snap the photograph as we sped by at 70mph.  After a while we realized we were going to have to stop and take the picture.

We decided to stop at the next unsmashed armadillo and take a picture.  As we sped down the highway we saw an armadillo ahead about 1/10th of a mile before the exit.  We passed the armadillo and stopped on the shoulder halfway between the armadillo and the exit.  We got out of the car and started walking back toward the armadillo.

When we got about 10 feet from the armadillo an oncoming tractor trailer put on it's blinker and slowed considerably.  It started to pull onto the shoulder.  Suddenly my friend and I had visions of the trailer smashing the armadillo 1) just as we got close enough to photograph it and 2) exploding the carcass all over us since we were within spraying distance at that point.

Somehow the trailer managed to miss the armadillo and stop beside us.  The woman in the passenger seat rolled down her window.  They were an older couple, roadweary and about 60ish.  They gestured to our truck in the distance.  "Are you having car trouble?"

"No." we answered, rather insulted.  With the enormous EXIT sign about 50 feet in front of our car we would have had to have been MORONS to get out of the car and start walking in the opposite direction for help.

"Are you okay?" they asked.  (Remember we both looked about 12.)

"Yes." we answered.  "We just wanted to take a picture of the armadillo." we told them, gesturing to the ROADKILL.

They looked at each other and then they looked at us as if we were the dumbest, most clueless girls in the world.  They shook their heads at what was to become of two morons like us and pulled back onto the road.  It was nice of them to stop but they looked so disappointed in us that maybe it would have been better if they hadn't.

As for us, we took about 30 photographs with that dead armadillo. (OLD FASHIONED FILM photographs)  We took a bunch of photos of the armadillo, some with each of us and if those two truckers had come back we would have asked them to take a photo of the two of us with the armadillo.

It was a great roadtrip.

Another time, in Amarillo (which is suspiciously like armadillo) we were driving down the highway when a boy in the car beside us started waving at my friend.  We were giggling like schoolgirls and waving back.  Finally he motioned to her to roll her window down.  "What should I do?" she giggled.

I shrugged.  "Roll it down!"  She did.  He called out to her at 70 miles per hour...

"You...........HAVE...................................A..................................FLAT..................................TIRE." pointing.

We laughed at the thought that he'd been trying to signal us for the past 5 minutes while we flirted.  Then we pulled off the highway into a gas station in Amarillo on a Sunday afternoon.  It took 5 hours for the tow truck to come.  The tire was not flat it was SHREDDED (on the car carrier, not the truck.)  I still have a piece of that tire in my memory box.  Come to think of it the tow truck driver looked at me like I was the dumbest person in the world for asking for a piece of the tire.

Apparently that was not the summer I impressed a lot of people with my intelligence.

But WOW! did I have fun.

P.S.  I lied about this story having no sex in it because tonight is my anniversary and I am going to sign off now and go get me some.

Comments

[andygirl]

that *is* an awesome story! I'm pretty sure your brain begins to turn on at 25. at least that was my experience. all the stupid stuff I did took place between the ages of 15 and 25. but I never took a picture with roadkill. you have me beat there.

[buzzvibe]

Amarillo is a bad place for tires. I had my share of vehicular misfortune there when the entire driver's side front wheel flew off my truck. It was Thanksgiving weekend. We were stuck in Amarillo for days. It snowed, and I was all, "WTF?! Snow in Texas?"

[cakedarla]

Great story! I was shocked to find a live armadillo by the side of the road earlier this year, so I took pictures of him: http://bit.ly/9YnqDe Up close, they're almost cute.

[happyfamilytravels]

Great story...wish you could scan some of the pics!!