It was 1981 or 82 and we had decided to visit some friends
in Southern California. We weren't much for traveling in
those days. Not that we didn't enjoy it; we just didn't
really have the money and living in Phoenix during the
summer, driving 500-600 miles in 115 degree weather just
wasn't very appealing. But Janice and Andy had been
insisting that we visit since they were such good friends
of ours before they left our neighborhood due to his
company transfer. Jane and Janice, in fact, were attached
at the hip the 7 years they lived two houses down and the
kids played together virtually every available moment.
Jane convinced me that July this was the year to visit our
good friends. I made the arrangements for the time off
from work and we were western bound that last week of
August in our trusty camper. We took our time and drove
the southern route to San Diego stopping several times to
stretch our legs and walk a bit arriving in San Diego that
evening around 5 PM where we spent a couple of nights at a
very nice RV park near the water and enjoyed two days of
Sea World and the San Diego Zoo before heading up the
Freeway to the Mariner's home in Costa Mesa. The days were
warm but with a cool breeze and the nights were absolutely
delightful. Jane slept like a baby after walking both
parks for a solid 8 to 10 hours but I was up and down both
nights not being used to the coastal air.
Driving north on the fourth day between San Diego and Los
Angeles we noticed one of those drive-through animal parks
and Jane insisted that we check it out. It was quite
interesting with animals walking everywhere. You would
drive from one section to another waiting for each gate to
open to take you to another animal grouping. Many were
walking freely through the park with others just laying in
the sun or in the shade and you could stop and take
pictures and just take your good old time working your way
through the park. It was fascinating to watch the animals
in this environment as opposed to the previous day at the
zoo.
At each gate, there were clear warnings to keep your hands
inside the windows, keep them rolled up as animals came
close to the car and by all means do not honk your horn.
Unfortunately, there was a car of young adults slightly
ahead of us that were having quite a time trying to stir up
the pot with the large cats. You could see them taunting
the lions that were in the distance in hopes they would
come closer. They would call them, stick there arms and
heads out the door and wave their arms furiously to get the
animals attention. Fortunately, for the most part, the
animals paid little attention with just a slight lift of
the head, a short glance of disgust and then laying their
heads back down paying basically no never-mind.
But that did not hold true for Mr. Elephant. Although the
people were not trying to get his attention, he was the one
that had had enough of this nonsense. He gradually made
his way toward our cars but to our surprise the young
couples either saw him coming or got fed up them selves
with being ignored and took off just in time. But there we
were between the Elephant and the cars behind us. Not sure
what was about to happen we rolled up our windows and
watched as Mr. Elephant strolled to front of the camper,
slightly raised his trunk, gave a slide nod, then turned
and proceeded to sit on the front or our hood. "Oh my
goodness, what do we do now?" I could hear Jane speak. I
must admit I was at a complete loss. The big fella did not
over do it. He made his statement quite clear then stood
back up and moved on with absolutely no fan fare. A couple
of tons on my hood left quite an impression, if you know
what I mean.
At first I was most concerned about my radiator but once
outside of the park where we could stop there was no
indication of anything leaking. I pulled up to the office,
the people were very apologetic and both the park and
ourselves made a few calls to the insurance companies and
within an hour or so we were off and on our way to Andy and
Janice's.
As we pulled onto the San Diego freeway heading north, we
had not gone more than 3 miles and a car about 4 cars in
front of us got impatient and tried to switch lanes not
noticing the car next to them and before they knew it there
was a three car pile up that we just barely missed - two
cars and a camper. After seeing that everyone seemed to be
just fine, we noticed that cars were starting to drive onto
the shoulder to get around the crash site. We decided to
follow them since we were tired and running a bit late
after being held up at the park. What we did not notice
was that for some reason, the camper also left the scene of
the accident before any Highway Patrol arrived.
----------------------------------------------------
Jeff Gustafson is a media professional with iMpro, LLC. An
accomplished singer/songwriter as well as founder of
http://www.myhatt.com an international cultural awareness
concept and StrategyGolfCentral.
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