I had a curious little experience in the wee early morning hours of August 21 2017, Eclipse Day, on my way to South Carolina to see the total eclipse.
Two weeks before the eclipse I decided suddenly I will go to see the total eclipse. I live east of Orlando Florida in Chuluota and so the trip is just 5 hours. It was a hastily organized trip while others planned ahead months, even a year or more, to see the eclipse. Studying Google Maps, I found a lonely, quiet spot, under the I-95 bridge and next to a railroad track (I love trains) to experience the eclipse, a totally natural, Earth-Moon phenomenon, BY MYSELF, just nature and I, the way I like it.
AND, as I do with any trip where I go by myself, I go as a woman, by gosh! (I went to Los Angeles to see Dr O'Dea 100-percent as woman. Did not even bring male clothes.) Daughter accepts my new ways but too involved with other things to go, wife does not like it, and did not go either. Fine, I went by myself, AS A WOMAN, my preferred method.
With both of them away the evening of August 20, I packed car with pillows, blankets, lots of water, vitamins and protein supplement. I would go frugally, in a Spartan manner. Hotel rooms in the total eclipse zone were hundreds of dollars a night. Forget that. I would sleep in the car.
I put on makeup which includes a gel concealer to hide any dang-blasted beard regrowth hours later, dressed in peplum top and super brief short-shorts and took off. I had heels to the side, but wore my comfortable man-shoes for driving (more comfortable). I would change to heels for gassing up and other excursions outside the car.
I finally got out 10 pm on August 20. I am a night-gal, I work best at night. I figured I would avoid the predicted traffic jams that way. Route included 417, a toll road, including its mile-long bridge over Lake Jesup. Then I-4 to Daytona, then I-95 which would take me to my planned destination, the rest area near mile marker 99, just south of Lake Marion in central South Carolina. From there I would case out the exit to 301, Bonner Ave, then Hannah Drive which turns dirt just before it gets to the spot under the I 95 bridge and the railroad track. (I arrived 5 in the morning of 21rst and in the pitch dark, cased it out. Then returned to the rest area to sleep in the car.)
I got through Jacksonville about midnight. As I had planned and predicted, traffic was light. It was about 25-percent 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs. I like them and I like truckers for the most part. In fact, while driving, I listened to "Road Dog", on channel 146 on XM satellite radio. It is a channel for truckers. They discuss the business of trucking, the crazy laws, and experiences on the road. From 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. is Coast To Coast A.M., a big plus! I love that show, and apparently, so do truckers.
Sometime after Jacksonville and before entering Georgia, a certain flat-bed tractor-trailer rig kept coming up beside me...
The area just after Jacksonville is brilliantly lit by amber street lights. I dressed "for myself", not expecting to be close to anybody. This was a trip for me to see a spectacle of nature, and I intended to be by myself, just nature and I. I tend to be a loner anyway. As described above, I dressed in a sleeveless peplum top, a choker, and super-brief denim short-shorts.
So... I don't know... did the trucker in that truck see my legs? My hair, face, etc? I had short, pertly bobbed, black hair. I had done the makeup to suggest an oriental look, although admittedly, I maybe resembled a 40-year-old whore, maybe an older "dragon lady". Oh well, it's my look, and I liked it.
I had my speed-control set for 70 mph, the speed limit. Many trucks were regulating themselves apparently to 70 or 65 mph themselves. Other cars however, passed me like I was on jacks. If I passed a truck, I would pass it very slowly, or maybe, not at all. I readjusted the speed control to just a skosh above 70 mph so I would pass them, all be it slowly, and get on out of the way. (The rigs regulated at 65 fell back rather quickly.) I-95 is three lanes each way all through Florida and Georgia, becoming two lanes in South Carolina.
Small groups of 4-wheelers (cars, SUVs, pickups, etc) would pass by quickly, as I said, like I was on jacks. Traffic was light and plenty of space for passing, no holdups.
It took a while to dawn on me, but this one tractor-trailer rig kept pacing me. He was pulling a flatbed on which I could see only folded up tarps. So my guess is that he may have been "dead-heading" (traveling to pick up a load over a distance for which there is no pay.) I was at 72 mph, he was at 72. I was in the far left lane, he in the right lane. A lane was between us. From midnight to about 3 a.m. he was up there with me. Every so often I turned on the dome light to look for something, a map, or whatever. I guess when I did, it lit me up and my legs pretty brightly. That plus every time we passed by an intersection, there would be those big, bright amber lights overhead.
If a bunch of cars approached, I purposely fell behind the truck and slipped in behind him so that the group of cars could pass without trouble. I would slow to 65 or 60. So did he. After the group passed, I then resumed 72. I would pass him, but in a couple minutes, there he was again over there, paralleling me again.
Over time it became clearer and clearer that he, apparently, was paralleling me. Several times this repeated. A group of cars, I fall back down to 60 mph, so did he, then I go back to 72 mph, pass him, and a few minutes there he is again. I was beginning to chuckle, what is this?... It sort of became a game. Kept me awake. I would have been sleepy otherwise.
Finally, at one point, one more time I had fallen behind him slowing to 60 mph to let a group of cars pass, he began signaling a right turn. He would give three flashes of the right turn signal. But there was no place to turn right. He did that maybe 5 separate times. I began to wonder if that was a communication to me. For what? Pull over to the right? Then finally, the Savannah exit came and he did indeed turn right onto that exit. So was THAT it? Did he want me to turn right and follow him to, maybe, a restaurant of some sort? But I continued ahead, resuming 70 mph. Huh, strange, I felt alone. I was beginning to wonder if he was going to follow me all the way to the mile-marker-99 rest area in central South Carolina.
Now, what do you all think of that? What was going on there?
I WISH I had had the time to find and set up my CB radio and antenna. Then maybe he could have hailed me on 19. In ages past, I used to have a CB radio set up and I enjoyed listening to truckers. But alas, I got in a last-minutes-hurry, because they were coming back home 10:30 p.m., and me and my makeup and dress had to be out of there before they came. I had told them I was leaving at about 9 anyway.
If he had hailed me on 19 with, um, an invitation(?), I would have warned that I'm a 65-year old granny. I AM 65, but with my fit body, and with k-tape (to get rid of wrinkles), concealer makeup, and pert hair piece, I look upper 30s lower 40s. If he liked older women, I would have been forced to tell him the deep, dark truth...
I am a TRANS woman, yeah, the devil's own spawn! My supper is children with side dishes of puppy-dogs and kittens, my wine is the blood of my victims, and for dessert, I eat the dead! I walk the streets at night and lure unsuspecting men in... that's why they call me a "trap"! Muah-hah-hah-hah!
THAT would have scared him off... unless he is a "->-bleeped-<--->-bleeped-<-"... which I doubt. I like to have fun and yank peoples' chains. A CB radio would have been fun in that instance. Oh well. Next road trip. Next time there is a UFO conference in Tennessee or Atlanta or something. Maybe even Roswell itself! (Though that would be a long drive.) And of course, ALWAYS as a woman!
By the way, the eclipse viewing was a success! I had absolutely clear skies. I WAS by myself the whole time, under that bridge and next to the railroad track. As soon as I have 15 posts, I will link to a Youtube channel that has my video. Along with the eclipse, you can see how I dressed. Also, I think after 15 posts I can put up pictures here which will display how I dressed.
As the moon covered the sun, it became dimmer and dimmer, but not so much... until suddenly, I was thrust quite suddenly into night-like darkness and all the night time critters began croaking and singing. The sun was reduced to a shimmering ring and I could see the stars. It couldn't have been any cooler! And, it was just me and nature! It lasted a good 2 and 1/2 minutes.
Well anywho, what do you all think of that trucker up there? Was he after me or what? Very, very curious to say the least. Thank you for reading!
