Monday, October 20, 2008
What is it with explosions these days?
I had an experience this past weekend that I had never had before. I had the "pleasure" of going to a Dallas Cowboy's game in St. Louis. Any of you who follow football know that this did not go well for America's team. I watched as Brad Johnson, 40 year-old backup QB, paniced repeatedly as he threw perfect passes to the defense. It was nice that the Cowboys looked out for my fantasy football team by allowing Steven Jackson to gain 160 yds and a couple touchdowns (I am winning my fantasy game as I write this). But I had a good time with good friends and was pleased to see that about a third of the crowd was rooting for the Boys.
On the way out of St. Louis, we came upon a roadside sign warning that I-44 is closed ahead at the intersection of I-50. We had very little choice at this point but to continue anyway. We trudged ahead at a blistering 7 miles per hour. As we came upon the source of the blockage we found that there was no trouble in our lanes of traffic (except hundreds of gawking passengers). However, the problems on the otherside were numerous and devestating. The first casualty we came upon was a semi that was completely burned out, so much so that I couldn't even see the cab over the concrete barrier until we went up a small hill and I looked back and saw nothing but the wheels and undercarriage of the truck. The trailer was burnt out as well. It was easy to surmise from this damage that the gas tanks on this truck had exploded and melted the truck down to nothing. About 50 yards later we saw a pontoon boat on the back of a flat-bed tow truck that looked as if it had been launched off its trailer and landed upside down on the highway. Just behind that was wreckage of a Tahoe sized SUV that had all of its windows broken out and was smashed in on every side. All around these vehicles were car parts including the front bumper of a small white car that had been launced about 12 feet up onto a bluff. It was more debris than I had ever seen from a wreck. Obviously this had blocked all traffic. Traffic was being diverted onto an outer road at the nearest off ramp. This caused a traffic back up that lasted for probably 15 miles. It was like watching those videos of traffic trying to escape a hurricane disaster area. Even on the other side of the exit the cars were backed up almost to Sullivan. It was quite amazing. We laughed as we watched some of the cars beyond the traffic jam travel along having no idea what they were about to drive into. All those cars backed up had no idea that there lay so many miles of parking lot ahead of them.
So that brings be to today. I visit some clients that live about an hour from Springfield. I generally walk with them as we talk. I was walking along with a young man and a beat up old minivan passed us on a small side road. Just after it passed us, I heard a small explosion that sounded like a car backfireing. I looked back and the car was ON FIRE! It had been leaking gas and something sparked and set the engine on fire. The engine compartment was completely engulfed and flames were streaming back around the vehicle. The driver stoped the car and calmly walked out of the van as if this kind of thing was a minor inconvienence that happened all the time. I yelled to her, asking if she was ok and she ignored me as she waited for the fire to burn out. A passing officer of the law raced to the scene and offered to use his handy fire extinguisher but as I walked away it seemed that she had declined the offer. By this time all the fuel had burned off and the van was just sitting there smelling bad (which may or may not have been caused by the fire). I escorted my young client away from ground zero and back to his house. About 5 minutes later a fire truck raced down the street with sirens and lights ablaze. Out of morbid curiosity I drove by again on my way out of town to check on the bomb site. The van was sitting in the "driveway" from which it originally came, the engine compartment looked to be completely burned out and was just sitting there with the hood up and black soot covering most of the body of the car (which gave it a much more uniform color than it had before). Hope she had good insurance on that $400 tiki torch she was driving around.
On the way out of St. Louis, we came upon a roadside sign warning that I-44 is closed ahead at the intersection of I-50. We had very little choice at this point but to continue anyway. We trudged ahead at a blistering 7 miles per hour. As we came upon the source of the blockage we found that there was no trouble in our lanes of traffic (except hundreds of gawking passengers). However, the problems on the otherside were numerous and devestating. The first casualty we came upon was a semi that was completely burned out, so much so that I couldn't even see the cab over the concrete barrier until we went up a small hill and I looked back and saw nothing but the wheels and undercarriage of the truck. The trailer was burnt out as well. It was easy to surmise from this damage that the gas tanks on this truck had exploded and melted the truck down to nothing. About 50 yards later we saw a pontoon boat on the back of a flat-bed tow truck that looked as if it had been launched off its trailer and landed upside down on the highway. Just behind that was wreckage of a Tahoe sized SUV that had all of its windows broken out and was smashed in on every side. All around these vehicles were car parts including the front bumper of a small white car that had been launced about 12 feet up onto a bluff. It was more debris than I had ever seen from a wreck. Obviously this had blocked all traffic. Traffic was being diverted onto an outer road at the nearest off ramp. This caused a traffic back up that lasted for probably 15 miles. It was like watching those videos of traffic trying to escape a hurricane disaster area. Even on the other side of the exit the cars were backed up almost to Sullivan. It was quite amazing. We laughed as we watched some of the cars beyond the traffic jam travel along having no idea what they were about to drive into. All those cars backed up had no idea that there lay so many miles of parking lot ahead of them.
So that brings be to today. I visit some clients that live about an hour from Springfield. I generally walk with them as we talk. I was walking along with a young man and a beat up old minivan passed us on a small side road. Just after it passed us, I heard a small explosion that sounded like a car backfireing. I looked back and the car was ON FIRE! It had been leaking gas and something sparked and set the engine on fire. The engine compartment was completely engulfed and flames were streaming back around the vehicle. The driver stoped the car and calmly walked out of the van as if this kind of thing was a minor inconvienence that happened all the time. I yelled to her, asking if she was ok and she ignored me as she waited for the fire to burn out. A passing officer of the law raced to the scene and offered to use his handy fire extinguisher but as I walked away it seemed that she had declined the offer. By this time all the fuel had burned off and the van was just sitting there smelling bad (which may or may not have been caused by the fire). I escorted my young client away from ground zero and back to his house. About 5 minutes later a fire truck raced down the street with sirens and lights ablaze. Out of morbid curiosity I drove by again on my way out of town to check on the bomb site. The van was sitting in the "driveway" from which it originally came, the engine compartment looked to be completely burned out and was just sitting there with the hood up and black soot covering most of the body of the car (which gave it a much more uniform color than it had before). Hope she had good insurance on that $400 tiki torch she was driving around.
