The hurricane driving was alright. Actually, we left on Thursday night to try to avoid the bulk of the storm, which was scheduled to hit Johnstown during the morning hours on Friday.
I think this was the second most frightening turnpike trip I’ve ever taken. It was dark, of course, and there was rain everywhere. Wind was blowing all sorts of tree detritus not just onto the road but into the air above the road, swirling in the driving vision of the headlights. I guess we had just passed the mountains having come out of the tunnels when we came to follow a minivan. It was out about 50 yards or so, and all we could see was its tail lights. At one point, it simply seemed to swerve smoothly but suddenly to the left. I thought to myself, “That’s odd,” and was thinking about following them just when I saw what was going on. A huge tree had fallen completely across the cruising lane. Luckily I saw that minivan, because I didn’t see the tree until we were almost upon it. Berta and I just kind of sat there silent for a few moments until I asked her, “Did you see that? Did that just happen?”