FRIDAY ON HIGHWAY 95

WOW! This past weekend was great. Getting there was beyond scary.

Back in September I received notification the one and only scholarship to the Fall Writers Retreat, sponsored by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, had been won by Yours Truly. It was only the second writing competition I had ever entered (the first being early this Spring where the reward was for a much smaller amount - but still prized, I assure you). The retreat was to be conducted October 1-3 at the Liniken Resort in Boothbay Harbor. A beautiful setting. But driving there this past Friday, southbound on the 95 in the driving rain, was more than a challenge.

I don't ride those death-defying monsters at the carnivals. Don't like roller-coasters. Never, ever get on the Ferris wheels. And my granddaughters still talk about when they got me on the "Tower of Death" at Disneyland. (That thing is appropriately named, BTW. Those screams you hear while buying your tickets outside are the people riding that thing inside, screaming God's name in one solid breath all the way down to the ground level. And those girls wanted to "do it again" - probably just to see all color drain from their Nana's face one more time. I have moments of being naive, but I am not THAT gullible.)

And so we get to last Friday's drive for what should have been a three-hour trip. Took five hours in that rain. Didn't start out raining when I left Eddington. Rather pretty actually. The colors of the foliage traveling toward Newport were lovely. Lots of red and orange and rusted gold amidst the deep green. And then it began to sprinkle. Just enough to turn the windshield wipers on intermittently. And then more often. Not so much as to throw up any great amount of water from the rear tires of those vehicles passing in the left lane. But still, I turned on the headlights. After all, that's what one is supposed to do. Turn on your headlights whenever using your windshield wipers. There were even large signs along the roadside stating as much.

The rain started coming down more heavily - and the sky got darker in spots along the route. Of course, never having been to Boothbay Harbor before, I had printed out the directions via Mapquest. (NOTE: One cannot take exit 51 at Gardner to get to 27 regardless of what Mapquest says unless you have an EZ pass. I didn't. One has to continue south on 95, get off at the next off ramp and double back. Then you can get off at exit 51. Believe me, I speak from experience.)

No, I do not have a GPS device. I need to watch the road when I'm driving - of course I can still get lost, but at least I am watching where I am going. Doesn't make a lot of difference some of the time, but I can explain to whoever what I did and where I did it so that they can understand while they're shaking their head and saying, "You can't get there from H'yah.".

Same reason, BTW I don't use my cell phone and NEVER text. Don't even put on makeup. I really have to seriously consider taking a drink container out of the cup holder, even though I use a straw to make it easier. When driving, even in good weather, I keep my eyes on the road. I've seen too often the consequences of those who haven't.

So back to Friady - somewhere this side of Augusta the rain was really coming down. I mean it was bad. And every vehicle that was on the road was throwing up huge amounts of water from their rear tires. Not just the big-rigs, which were pounding along at 70-80 mph regardless. But the SUVs and the pickups and the normal sized cars. Everything was throwing so much water there was a white-out for any vehicle behind them - even if you were five or six car-lengths behind. In spots the water on the pavements was causing planing. Highway DOT lights came on announcing reduced speeds to 45mph. Even that felt fast.

In a few places I moved over into the left lane just to avoid the throw-back water from some large vehicle in front of me in the right lane because I couldn't see anything. I know, Maine seems to have this thing about everyone staying in the right lane except to pass - and then jump back into that right lane. I don't understand it. A driver can not practice defensive driving when s/he can not see what is up ahead - can't see the moose or deer the signs warn about for the next 15-17 miles, can't see the accident just ahead, can't see that others are braking ahead but the vehicle right in front of you isn't for whatever reason. Whatever, there are a lot of things in Maine I don't understand and this column isn't long enough to list them.

BUT, when I saw this HUGE big-rig baring down on me in my rear mirror, I wanted to move back over into the right lane - except I couldn't see where that vehicle was that had been there just moments before - the one that was throwing up so much water and causing the white-out I wanted to avoid. Where was it? Was it safe to move back over into the right lane? Would I drive right into the car/SUV/whatever it was if I pulled into the right lane?

Why was I having this much trouble? - in broad daylight even if it was cloudy? Because at least one-quarter of the vehicles driving with their windshield wipers going pell-mell fast did not have their headlights on. No, those drivers probably didn't need their headlights to see where they were going. But us drivers behind them needed their tail lights on to see where they were.

And it wasn't just me. By the time I arrived at my destination there were others talking about the same stressed experience. For all of the "independence" Mainers like to brag about, sometimes the rules aren't for the one doing the driving or the ATV exploring or the one on the motorcycle or the hunter. The rules are sometimes for the others who are in the areas right behind you.