Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Unsecured I-55 Load Rising

So I am driving along northbound I-55 minding my own business, wondering how much of the original interior of the historic Lemp Brewery is still intact, when I notice a pick up truck in the right hand lane with a heavily loaded bed. It appeared the driver was headed somewhere with a full load of alley castoff items.

Holding down the load was one of those farm-issue galvanized cattle watering basins (about 10 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep) adaptively converted into backyard swimming pools by generations of St. Louisans. The only problem was there was nothing holding down the galvanized pool. In the next moment, a high speed current of wind worked its way under the metal tub, sending the metal pond airborne in the middle of highway traffic.

At fifty-something miles per hour, the tub completed one and a half somersaults through the air, landed on the pavement and skidded to a stop in the middle of a traffic lane. The stunned pickup driver immediately pulled over, presumably in an effort to recover his high flying swimming pool before it cost someone life or limb.

Combined with the number of people driving while on a cell phone, I can't count the number of times I've seen unsecured items blow out of the bed of trucks. After quickly recounting the moments of my (hoped for) half-lived life, I made a note to myself: better stick to the much safer city neighborhood streets!

1 comment:

Mark Groth said...

Scary. Glad you made it outta there in one piece. I've heard those metal things referred to as "hoosier hottubs".