Goin' Out To Cally – Part 53, They Hit Horses, Don’t They?

The tires screeched loudly, jolting everyone from their sleep and throwing them forward as the car shuddered to a stop.

“What’s wrong!” Beth exclaimed. She looked over my shoulder from the backseat to spot a group of wild horses standing in the middle of the highway.

“Do you guys see that?” I asked cautiously.

“Horses?” Sunday replied.

“Yup,” I followed.

“Uh-huh,” Tim confirmed.

“Good!” I sighed with relief.

After so many hours on the road I thought I was seeing things. I looked passed the horses to see another Highway 50 sign.

Sunday squinted and leaned forward. “Does that say The Loneliest Road in America?” she asked.

“Loneliest or Loveliest?” I interjected.

Tim looked over and spied the sign. “Nope, that’s Loneliest.”

“Loneliest? Well, then how are we on gas?” Beth asked.

“We have about a quarter of a tank left,” I answered.

“We’d better stop at the next town and fill up,” she replied as she and Tim leaned back and tried to get back to sleep.

By the time the horses eventually cleared so that we could pass even Sunday was back to sleep. I swigged down the remaining caffeine remnants from my warm can of cola and continued down the road.

A few miles later I saw another sign labeled “Open Range.”

So that’s why the horses were in the road. That explains it… we were driving through an open range with no fences. That also explains why this is the Loneliest Road in America. If it were more popular, they’d have to put up fences to protect the animals… and the sleepy drivers.

That means I’d have to be more careful. Who knows what other animals would end up appearing on the road. Having learned how to drive in Florida the most I had ever had to avoid was road kill, not live, breathing, large animals. I knew I had to remain alert.

As the hum of the car reached its normal level, however, and the white lines of the road continued to hypnotically pass in front of the headlights, my eyes began to close uncontrollably. I slapped myself in the face and changed my seating position to the most uncomfortable place I could find as to try and overcome my sleep deprivation.

And I was growing nervous. As the tank crept slowly toward E for Empty I realized it had been miles without any sign what-so-ever. No Highway 50 sign, no Open Range sign, no Next City in So Many Miles sign… no sign of life… no nothing.

Could we really end up stranded in the middle of The Loneliest Road in America without any gas and no idea of the distance to the nearest town?

It would turn out that if things didn’t change in a hurry that would be the least of our problems.

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Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)