Caroline really likes both schools but is leaning heavily towards
Spoiler
Ole Miss
Anyway, on the way back, driving south on I-55 a car (Nissan Altima, Red) passes me. I'm doing 74-75 in the 70 speed limit. He is doing about 77-78. As he passes me he comes slightly, maybe 6 inches across the dividing line into my lane. I moved over a bit and just considered he may have been distracted or something. However as I watched him ahead of me he would drift slowly from one side of the freeway to the other, each time getting his tires on the rumble strips. He then would settle in the direct middle of the road, straddling the center line. I finally had seen enough so I called 911 and got the current county's emergency operator who re-connected me to the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP). I told them what I was seeing and the mile markers we were at and that the car was now doing about 80. I stayed with him, about 1/4 mile back, watching as he would pass cars and still weave back and forth.
After about 20 miles I recalled 911 to give them an update on where we were. About 3 minutes after that call I watched the Altima approach a semi trailer, a flatbed 18 wheeler hauling something, I didn't notice what, but it wasn't empty. I was a ways back but saw the Altima drift right and straddle the line and I thought, he is awfully close to that trailer, but I didn't have perfect depth perception from that distance. Then I saw the debris. He actually ran up into the trailer. He weaved a bit and recovered and then passed the trailer as it slowed and pulled off the freeway. I continued to follow and re-called 911. This time I was really loud with them telling them that the Altima hit a trailer is and now driving about 85 dropping debris as it goes. We had just past an exit and the sign said next exit 12 miles. I told them he is going to kill himself or someone else if they don't get to him first.
At the next exit the Altima got off. I called 911 back to let them know. I only spoke to the county this time. I told them the car went west down the intersecting road (2 lane, bi-directional country road). I tried to follow but I wasn't going to drive that fast on a two lane hilly and winding road. I drove about 5 miles down it thinking no way that drunk could navigate this road and I'd see him on the side up in the trees. I didn't see him so I turned around and then drove up another side road he may have taken. We never found him.
But we found puppies! There were 8-9 of the cutes puppies on the side of the road. I'm pretty sure they were abandoned. The were as the end of the driveway of a farm. The house was about 1/4 mile of the road, the gate was shut. There was no mother around, no food, no water. Just the puppies, about 5-6 week old. Caroline made me stop so she could look at them and pet them. So we did. I was concerned they would try to follow us back to the car and get run over so I had to scare them a bit as we walked away. I was under extreme pressure to take one or all home. I held firm. We had no place for them in the car, no need for a new puppy, and we still had 9 hours of driving ahead of us. We drove off and for the next 9 hours, I was the cruelest meanest man on earth. How could I just leave those puppies there? Well, it was in the middle of the country in Mississippi. Nothing we could do.
After a while I called the county back to see if they ever found the Altima. The operator said "Yes, the found the car" and they would transfer me to the MHP for more info. The MHP operator would only say the car was stopped. No details or anything. She was very short with me. The only thing I could think of is it wrecked and they were still in the investigative stage. I hope not, but if that car was going fast on that road, they either hit someone else or ran off the road. I will try tomorrow to get more information.
Then, once we get back in Texas about 40 miles, just on the west side of Beaumont, the traffic comes to an almost standstill, almost causing a few rear enders. As we came upon what we thought would be an accident scene there were two DPS SUVs on the shoulder with lights going and two officers standing over a covered body up on the side of the hill near the road way. They were taking pictures. There was something closer to the road that I thought might be another body but couldn't tell. The weird thing is there were no other vehicles. It wasn't an accident. Just one or two dead bodies on the side in plain sight of the road at 5:30 in the afternoon. The only things I could think of were that someone was either thrown out of a moving vehicle or these folks were on the side of the road and were hit and the vehicle left the scene. Or they simply fell out of the sky. If was a fresh scene as the body I saw was covered with only a jacket. The legs were fully exposed and my wife said so was the head. I couldn't look at the scene much as I was driving. I will be monitoring the news for Beaumont as well for an explanation.
An interesting 625 mile drive to say the least. We got home safe, thankfully.
