In the course of just 20-miles we saw two major accidents. The first involved an 18-wheeler that was pulled off the side of the road with no apparent damage, but 100-yards back up the highway there was a large black SUV with it's back end up against a tree about 30' from the pavement.
Obviously the two had collided and the SUV lost. There didn't appear to be any injuries with just one police cruiser on the scene, but it was enough of a distraction to cause a 15-minute delay thanks to the looky-loos.
Just as traffic got back up to speed we were again slowing down for another accident, this one much worse.
From what we saw as we travelded passed the accident scene I wouldn't be surprised if this one involved fatalities.
A large white cargo van was laying on it's side with the roof and sides all damaged. It has obviously rolled over several times. There were also two small compact cars that were crunched in the front and rear which I guess would make them subcompact cars now. One more car had minor damage on the rear, which could have been the initial contact that started the whole chain reaction.
Most of the cars were in the median between the North and South bound lanes, but the van was on the outside apron of the pavement. All of the emergency vehicles and damaged vehicles were on the northbound side of the road, but that didn't stop the traffic from backing up for miles in the southbound lanes we were in.
Again, thank you to the looky-loos!
We didn't feel right trying to snap any photos as we went by, unlike most of the other cars around us.
All of this happened after we had our own close call on the Interstate about 30-minutes earlier.
I had put on my turn signal to change lanes to the left, looked in my mirror and saw no one in that lane for at least 100-yards and began my gradual lane change.
When I was halfway into the lane I checked my sideview mirror again and was surprised to see a small car about halfway passed the middle of THE POD and still advancing. He had no where to go as there was an 18-wheeler next to us.
I jerked the wheel to put us back into our lane, gave him the one finger salute as he passed by us and a few choice words he couldn't possibly have heard. One mile later he was pulling into my lane several cars ahead of me and acting like he was going to take the exit ramp.
Sure enough he pulled into the exit ramp and I made a comment to Tricia to watch him, cause I didn't think he was actually going to exit. Sure enough, at the last possible second he pulled back into the traffic lane and caused the cars behind him to brake, including us.
All of that reckless driving only netted him about a five car advancement in traffic. By us just maintaining distance from the cars in front of us and staying put in our lane we could still see him up ahead.
All of this Interstate drama occured on a stretch of Interstate 77, just outside of the capitol city of Charlotte, NC (pop. 911,311).
By the time we reached the campground my blood pressure had returned to normal, well normal for me anyway, as I would need all the patience I had to maneuver THE POD into our campsite.
To start, the entrance is on a curved road with THE POD already pointed in the wrong direction.
needs to be to push THE POD straight back into the center of the site.
All day yesterday and today we would watch the horses and their riders heading down the campground road to the entrance of an extensive trail system in this forest.
They were fun to watch as they passed our site and one of the trails can even be seen at the far back of our long campsite. Seeing the horses through the trees was even better.
When Hurricane Helene came through this area in late September it brought tropical storm force winds and more rain in one day than they see in a month, the result was widespread flooding and numerous landslides.
The Broad River flows down from Western North Carolina on its way south to the Congaree River before empting into the Atlantic Ocean. Even six weeks later the waterways in this region are still swollen over their banks in a few locations.
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