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We've Seen Some Strange Things Since We Moved Out into the Country Copyright 2001 by Michelle Jones
It's been a year since we moved from the
suburbs and out into the country, and for the most part it's been a wonderful
experience. But we've had quite a few strange things happen to us in this
short time. We've seen some things you just never see in the suburbs. In this
article, I will tell you about the very first strange thing that happened to
us.
Within two weeks of moving out into the
country, we decided to take a short drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway to view
the beautiful scenery. It's not too far from our house, so it seemed like a
pretty safe adventure. We piled our 4 kids into the van and headed down the
road. Once on the Parkway, we drove a few miles in one direction and then
turned around and drove a few miles in the other. It would be getting dark
soon, so we didn't have much time. It was beautiful all right, even more than
we had expected. We had a lovely drive; it was very pleasant and relaxing. We
stopped at one of the overlooks to take in the view, took a few family
pictures and decided this was one of the most beautiful places we had ever
seen.
As the sun continued to recede, we chose to
end our adventure and return home. We turned the van around again and started
to head back. I forgot to mention, I was the lucky one driving this
expedition. Just a mile from our exit off of the Parkway, our happy adventure
was about to turn into something really strange. About 200 feet in front of
us, standing on the left side of the road, was a beautiful, young, white
tailed deer. It's almost as though we saw each other at the very same time. I
imagine the look on my face was pretty similar to his, completely startled.
I began to slow the car down, not knowing
for sure what to do, since I've been a city girl all my life. But within a
split second, that deer was running right towards us! Since slowing down
hadn't worked, I tried to drive to the far right side of the road to avoid
hitting him. But the deer would not cooperate. Instead of being able to go
around him, that stupid dear kept running straight for the front side of our
van, forcing me to drive further and further off the side of the road.
Finally, I was about to hit a tree and had no choice but to stop the van.
When I hit the brakes, trying not to hit
them hard enough to release the air bags, the deer ran smack into the front
left corner of the van, hoppled over the hood and jumped off the front end.
For just a moment, he stood there quietly, probably stunned by the impact of
hitting our van. (Although this is a continued argument between my husband and
I; he says I ran into the deer, and I still say the deer ran into us!) We were
all pretty stunned ourselves.
Before I could even check to see if
everyone was okay, the deer had already run off into the woods, taking with
him our hopes and prayers that he was not injured, but still alive and well.
After getting over the initial shock of what had just happened, I looked up at
the front of the van and realized we were just a few feet away from a row of
trees. The branches were up against the windshield, almost acting as barrier
between the trees and us. Looking back on it now, I believe that when the
branches hit the windshield, I finally gave in to the chase and stopped the
van instantly. The craziest thing about this strange event is that I almost
wrecked the van trying to avoid hitting a deer! Fortunately for me, the van
was still intact and everyone was okay. We suffered only a small crack in the
headlight, which is nothing compared to the damage that could have been done.
Needless to say, the drive home was not quite as pleasant as the beginning of
our little adventure.
For those of you who don't know this
already, deer are evidently attracted to headlights. This is why the deer was
literally chasing down the front of our van that night, as I tried to drive
away from him. I've since learned that the best thing to do is turn your
headlights off, if at all possible. If you can do this, even for just a
moment, the deer may be able to look away and run back into the woods.
I'm happy to report, we've been on the
Parkway many times since that "run in" with the deer, and all have
been without incident. I think it's because we paid our dues with the first
one!
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