ACCOMMODATION IN BALLARAT

We started late in the day (so late that it was more like night already) on our roadtrip to North Carolina, so we were still just inside the Indiana state line (almost to Kentucky) at about two o'clock in the morning. We finally decided that stopping was a necessity after we were almost slammed into by a pick-up truck on a lonely, unlit side road just off the highway. My mom was driving and was about to do a U-turn when this truck came out of nowhere on our left, blasting along a full speed, and literally missed us by inches.

In fact, the truck literally flew into the ditch that served as a median and I am still completely and entirely amazed to this day that it didn't land nose-first there. Instead, it just bounced once or twice as it flew down in and then back up and out again to finally stop way down the road on the shoulder on the other side of the road.

The driver, a guy who was probably in his 40's and was dressed in a rough old flannel work shirt and jeans, immediately got out of his truck while we stayed in our car. (Did I mention that it was an unlit side road, it was just my mom, Anna and I and there was NO ONE else around?) The conversation that he had with my mom when he came over went something like this:

Mom: Are you okay?
Guy: I'm fine, but I gotta check my truck. Do you have a flashlight?
Mom: No, I don't. I'm sorry.
Guy: Well, pull on up here and put your light on it, okay?
Mom: Okay, sure. *drives to other side of the road and pulls up behind the guy's truck*
Guy: *after looking under truck* Well, why don't you go ahead and give me your name and phone number so that I can call you if there's any damage.
Mom: Whoooooa, I didn't do anything.
Guy: Yeah, you were turning from the right-hand lane [not true!] and you didn't have a turn signal on [also not true!]. So, why don't you just give me your name and phone number and I can call you if there's any problems with my truck.
Mom: I don't think so. We can just wait here and call the police.
Guy: No, I can't wait. I have to get to the meth clinic. [Yeah, that's really what he said. Uh...]

After that lovely statement, the guy just walked away, jumped into his truck, drove back down through the ditch and across to get to the right side of the road and was completely gone in seconds. Leaving my mom, Anna and I with hearts still beating fast and a strong desire to just find a hotel where we could get some sleep.

Which, finally, leads us to this picture. My mom explained our story to the woman at the hotel reception desk when we finally found a nice place just after three in the morning and we ended up with a two-room suite for less than the regular room rate because we were checking in so late and, I'm sure, because the woman was just. that. nice. :-)

Day 69 2011

By any indication, tonight should be a good night for aurora watching, but unfortunately we were far too overcast to see anything. I snapped this instead, which shows some of the city's lights glowing off the low cloud ceiling.

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