Summer Danger - Saga of Three Semi-Trucks

It was a beautiful day--mid-morning--on the last day in June, and I had to drive to a medical clinic over 20 miles from my house. So I started out with my younger daughter in my still fairly new car with relaxing music playing on a satellite radio station and prepared to just enjoy the trip. Unfortunately, only 5 minutes into the drive, the first incident happened. As I approaching the intersection with the highway where I needed to turn left, a semi-truck, or 18-wheeler, began to pull out onto the road in a left turn from a plant nursery to the south. The truck was a little distance in front of me--if it were a car, it would have been fine, but an 18-wheeler is so long that it ended up being somewhat uncomfortably close...especially since I needed to move into the left turn lane. So I had to slow drastically and "hang out a little" until the way was clear to enter the turn lane! Phew!

So I made my left turn and headed south several miles to my next turn--a right lane merge onto another highway, which also had through traffic. As I entered the right lane of the new highway, there was another truck--with a long flatbed this time--smack in front of me and barely moving. Since this two-lane highway narrows down to one lane after one more intersection, I wanted to change lanes in the left lane as soon as possible, but there was a car to my left. Only by the graciousness of that car's driver in slowing for me, was I able to make the lane change, thereby passing the truck. I'm so glad, because the truck was so slow that it was very soon far behind me, and I couldn't have afforded the time lost being struck behind it.

Without further incident, I drove on and eventually ended up southbound on Interstate 5. An uneventful drive until I got to our exit. After crossing over the freeway, heading east, I was in the left lane, and I knew I had to merge to the right, as the next turn was a street heading south. But first I was approaching an intersection with a traffic light and noticed another 18-wheeler in the right lane. As I got closer to the intersection, I suddenly noticed that the truck seemed to be drifting to the left for some reason...changing lanes or just wandering or what? At first I didn't react (a little bit later I realized that the truck did not have a signal on or it was not working). Then suddenly I realized that if I and the truck kept on our current paths, I might be squashed! My heart rate sped up, and I made a snap decision...I stepped on the accelerator and zoom, zoom, zoom! quickly went around the truck, borrowing part of the fortunately unoccupied left turn lane, zoomed through the intersection, and then made my lane change to the right. I was rattled, though, and forgot that my next turn was a little tricky. Right before the street I wanted to turn on is an entrance to a transit station that also looks like a street. I ended up turning too soon and ended up in this transit entrance...but it paralleled the street I wanted, so I just had to do a maybe, possibly, slightly illegal maneuver to get onto that street! Then we made it to the medical center, which is in the middle of a shopping area that tends to be kind of busy. (Otherwise, it's really cute place...just a little hectic getting into and parking.)

On the way home later, there were fortunately no more close encounters with trucks, for which I was very thankful. So far the rest of the summer I've been managing to keep a reasonable distance from 18-wheelers, and hope that when I have to make this same drive again early next month, that it will be a lot more relaxing!