They say (whoever they is) "Timing is everything." Well it sure made a difference for us Saturday evening about 8pm.
It was friend Lynn's suggestion to attend the open house at Blue Fruit Farm on Wiscoy Ridge outside of Winona, Minnesota that afternoon. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to perhaps one of the oldest cooperatives in the area (tomorrow's entry) but it is what happened after we left the farm and detoured to Winona for some dinner that became our adventure. 
We were a bit disappointed we couldn't eat at the Blue Heron in Winona as it was closed due to a private party. Down the street we grabbed a bite at the Acoustic Cafe and before leaving town we did stop for gas. It was an excellent choice to stop then as we would soon discover.
Our fate awaited us just less than 10 minutes later as the cars in front of us had come to a complete halt on the river highway. Obviously, there had been an accident.
We were in the left lane and very close to one of those few crossover places in the median where there's a sign saying it's illegal to make a U turn. I would say about a dozen cars road the shoulder behind us and even some in front of us made that illegal turn. My passengers and I decided to wait it out thinking how long could it be. And I should add a police car eventually parked there blocking and preventing folks from making that decision.
Eventually we heard from one of the policemen that a semi had caught on fire not from an accident but from a faulty brake system and luckily no one was hurt.
Night fell and the line of lights behind us grew out of sight. Numerous emergency vehicles passed us on both shoulders. Firetrucks, ambulance, police cars, a water truck and eventually a tow truck. Halleluyah, soon we'd be on our way.
No such luck even after the smoke ahead indicated the fire had been put out. Two hours had passed and then the water truck which had left, returned. Apparently the fire was not out and reignited.
During our stand still, windows were opened and closed, engine started and restarted numerous times to re-cool the car. We talked, laughed, played a car game, almost started the car trip singing, trying to make the best of the situation.
Each of my passengers would feel the need to get out of the car to stretch and go talk to somebody else. Surprisingly enough there weren't many folks doing that. Since I had just seen a movie where a person opened their car door and had it ripped off by another vehicle and ended up in the hospital, you wouldn't have found me getting out. Thank goodness I had relieved myself at the restaurant and not drunken the entire glass of iced tea.
Three hours later we were finally on our way.
I handed Lynn my camera quickly.
And as Bob Hope would sing, "Thanks for the memories. "
We were in the left lane and very close to one of those few crossover places in the median where there's a sign saying it's illegal to make a U turn. I would say about a dozen cars road the shoulder behind us and even some in front of us made that illegal turn. My passengers and I decided to wait it out thinking how long could it be. And I should add a police car eventually parked there blocking and preventing folks from making that decision.
Eventually we heard from one of the policemen that a semi had caught on fire not from an accident but from a faulty brake system and luckily no one was hurt.
Night fell and the line of lights behind us grew out of sight. Numerous emergency vehicles passed us on both shoulders. Firetrucks, ambulance, police cars, a water truck and eventually a tow truck. Halleluyah, soon we'd be on our way.
No such luck even after the smoke ahead indicated the fire had been put out. Two hours had passed and then the water truck which had left, returned. Apparently the fire was not out and reignited.
During our stand still, windows were opened and closed, engine started and restarted numerous times to re-cool the car. We talked, laughed, played a car game, almost started the car trip singing, trying to make the best of the situation.
Each of my passengers would feel the need to get out of the car to stretch and go talk to somebody else. Surprisingly enough there weren't many folks doing that. Since I had just seen a movie where a person opened their car door and had it ripped off by another vehicle and ended up in the hospital, you wouldn't have found me getting out. Thank goodness I had relieved myself at the restaurant and not drunken the entire glass of iced tea.
Three hours later we were finally on our way. I handed Lynn my camera quickly.
And as Bob Hope would sing, "Thanks for the memories. "
 |
| Poor semi |
Later we would learn the highway had been closed and traffic rerouted to the other side of the river. Timing is everything, eh? No clue when that occurred but thankful there had been that gas stop/ we would have been out of gas.
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