It's around noon or so that Mrs. Huntswoman and I are having a "enough vacation" conversation... I mean, we're on day 12 at this point? It is kind of hot, and we have gotten used to being dirty all the time... Whatever internal batteries we had that were drained have long since been recharged. We both agree we could probably head home now and it would still be a good trip.
About now we notice some military vehicles driving through a field and shall we say "re-entering pavement"?
They're coming back in to the oncoming lane. One is a Humvee, one is an equally capable off-road type with big tires, but more cargo...
I dunno, I'm not good with wheeled military vehicle ID (better with aircraft).
And that's when we happen upon a traffic jam. A first on this trip!
You can tell its a strange sight for the locals too, because they're all just sparsely parked.
We weave our way up and things get tighter. No sign of movement though, so the road must be blocked ahead.
"aha" thinks I, "this explains the military vehicles re-entering pavement"
yeah, they must have gotten bored and just decided to punch through a field. I'll be honest, I'm thinking the same thing. The only thing stopping me is I can see a road about 300-yards ahead that T's into our road, and I'm not big on driving through farmer's fields. On either side is a berm and I don't want to start to do something idiotic unless I know I can finish it. If I bypass traffic and get stuck on that berm, people will make a meme out of me, I just know it.
This other truck apparently had no such reserves, because he went for it.
I cross the street to the right and scope the ditch. There is some tall grass, but nothing that would stop me... just a bunch of big rocks, but I can handle those... There's also no t-junction on this side... And I wouldn't be driving through a farmer's field.....
it's decided. I'm going for it.
I put in the hubs just in case. Back up the truck and here we go!
Dropping into the shallow ditch was no effort. Some people look to see what's going on as we pass, but otherwise don't mind us. It's fun bouncing over the rocks and the kids think I've gone absolutely crazy. We pass almost all the traffic and RIGHT at the site that's causing this, a previously not seen policeman steps into view from in front of a truck and holds up his hand to stop.
oops!
eh, it was worth a shot. I stop.
The police man though, he's pointing at something. I step out to look.
We cant speak but I can see he's pointing to a driveway I'm about to run into. I saw it, the grade up it is shallow (we're talking like one stair step here). I make a motion like I'm going to bump over it with my hand and he nods in understanding. He takes a step back, and i hop back in the driver's seat. I put it in 4-low now and start off in 2nd gear. I'm being watched now and don't want a bunch of wheel spin or anything when I bump up on the driveway.
bump!
I'm motioned to stop again, so I do (and take the opportunity to shift back into 2wd)
The police officer's attention is on a large group of people. I have no idea what's going on, but this is not a "happy convention". People are walking into view and back out... There's a semi that's preventing me from seeing everything, but it's not a "riot" or anything. Maybe a bus had a car accident and...?
I don't have time to think further. The path ahead of me is clear as far as I can see and the police man (finished looking at whatever he was looking at) motions me on my way.
"move along, move along"
And I do.
once clear of all the traffic on this side (and there is a lot) and back on the road Mrs. Huntswoman says "holy crap, that probably saved us about 3 hours"
I agree.