Timothy Birdnow

Kobe wasn't the only one imperiled by dense fog.

Kobe Bryant's heliocopter crashed in a dense fog. In fact, they are reporting it was so dense that police choppers were grounded. It didn't help that his pilot was a 24 year old; he probably wasn't adequately experienced, and he probably was cocky.

Be that as it may I had my own run-in with fog this morning. I had gone to the Ozark Hilton last night. It was a bit, uh, chilly for the OH, which employs a state-of-the-art hvac system consisting of a 55 gallon drum with a stove pipe sticking out and a Weber kettle lid for a "door". While I was warm enough inside, I had to stay up pretty much most of the night feeding the fire. I was ready to head home at first light.

It was sunny morning but as I moved north it became increasingly foggy. At one point I almost thought it was a forest fire; the fog was BROWN and made pea soup look like thin gruel. I slowed down, which saved my life; with visibility well under a hundred feet, I suddenly realized there was a tractor-trailer blocking both lanes of the highway.

I locked up the brakes and steered to the side as best I could. Had I been going any faster I would have plowed into that truck. It was completely invisible in the dense fog.

I count my blessings, as I listened to the radio on the way home and heard how Bryant and his family didn't have the good fortune I experienced. They always say to thank God for small miracles. I believe what happened this morning was one.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 04:55 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 288 words, total size 2 kb.