We had an exciting journey yesterday. Evelyn and Lewis were flying out, and I was driving them to the closest airport, which is almost at hour away by car. Luckily, we left a little early.
Artwork in the airport at New Bern, N.C.
I decided to take the smaller and faster of the two roads up to New Bern, which is N.C. Highway 101. That way, you avoid passing through a couple of larger towns where there are a lot of traffic lights that can slow you down.
The highly recommended Beaufort Grocery restaurant was open for lunch except on the day we were there...
Unfortunately, we came upon a serious traffic accident that had the whole roadway shut down. I actually saw the collision happen, right in front of me, but I have no idea why it happened. The two vehicles just suddenly ran square into each other. Whatever. I hope nobody was badly hurt. We had no choice but to backtrack and drive through the larger towns anyway.
Springtime blossoms in North Carolina
We made it to the airport with only a few minutes to spare. It's a small airport that only small aircraft fly into, so there are no long check-in lines. The weather was gorgeous. E. and L. didn't miss their plane.
How about a scenic three-hour tour?
For me, it was a pretty special two days, showing friends around my home town and county. I hope E. and L. enjoyed it half as much as I did. And on the third day, I rested.
so i have to know if you went on the ferry tour? glad you were not involved in the accident and your friends got to their plane on time.
ReplyDeleteCan, you manage to put the best colors and textures of photos together, every post. These are great together. Happy times!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! What happened there? That "can" is supposed to be, "Ken". :)
DeleteThe security at the Bern airport was slow even though we were TSA and didn't have to take off our shoes. Perhaps because there is a military base nearby, they wanted to look at our liquids. The trips coming and going to the airport were surreal, but the times in between were such perfect fun. We are resting up today also.
ReplyDeleteWe didn' t go on the ferry tour, the weather wasn't quite right until the day we left. It would have been fun to see the wild horses up close. Maybe next time!
I'm so glad that the visit was perfect.
ReplyDelete"Airport" and "excitement" are two words you never want to hear in the same sentence.
Make that TSA approved which lets us go in a shorter line usually, but there was only one line in New Bern. Yes, Chris- we like our airports to be calm.
ReplyDeleteChris, amen.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn and all, this from our local newspaper:
“Driver Injured in Collision
BEAUFORT — First responders spent nearly two hours Thursday morning clearing the scene of a collision between a Ford Explorer and a disabled backhoe on Highway 101 near the entrance to Sea Gate subdivision on the west side of the Core Creek Bridge.
The driver of the SUV was injured and had to be extricated from his vehicle after it struck the backhoe, which had been working in the area when it broke down in the westbound lane about 10 miles east of Havelock and even miles north of Beaufort.
Beaufort Fire Department was dispatched at 8:59 a.m. The man driving the SUV ran into the back of the plow, seversly damaging the SUV and trapping him inside.
The unidentified man was taken to Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City. His condition was unavailable, but officials said his injuries were not life-threatening.
Both sides of Highway 101 were closed for about 1½ hours, reopening at 10:35 a.m. Traffic on the highway was turned around until the accident scene could be cleared.”
So... we did the right thing by turning back and going around the long way immediately. I saw the collision but I didn't see whether the backhoe was moving or not, and I didn't understand why the SUV slammed into it. It was spectacular. The backhoe operator was probably standing on the roadway to wave cars around the disabled backhoe. He must have seen the driver of the white Explorer texting or dialing his phone or otherwise not paying attention. That's why the man ran to the right and jumped across the ditch — to get out of the way of the crash. I remember that the SUV did not brake at all before it hit the backhoe — I saw no brake lights — therefore crashing at full speed. We must all have been going about 50 mph. It was lucky that the driver of the SUV was alone in the vehicle, because it was the passenger side of the SUV that was really torn up. I'm glad the driver wasn't more badly injured, but I don't understand why the accident happened the way it did.