The best projects always have a good story behind them.
Once on the way home from visiting up north, we stopped at the Lowe's in Middletown Del to pick up some sales tax free insulation. Since the van was chock a block with children and their stuff, I opted to secure it to the roof rack, again with the complementary string from the store.
Racing down 301, I heard a "Schlunk" and looked out the back window as one of the bales rolled down the highway behind me. I pulled over to grab it, only to discover that the first roll had fallen off with less fanfare somewhere up the road.
We dealt with the roll at hand, then turned around to head north to see if we could find the other (insulation ain't cheap, and I am...) If you've ever driven on 301, you know that there are only a few crossovers, and they tend to be miles apart. So as I'm going up the road, I spy my wayward insulata, just as a guy in a black pick up going southbound spies it as well.
Obviously, time is of the essence, but there's no crossover to be had. So I say to hell with it, drive a minivan full of wife and children across the median, which had a fairly steep slope to it, by the way, spinning wheels and cursing all the way. We make it into the southbound lanes, undetected by the law enforcement community, and I speed toward the black truck on the side of the road. The guy had already thrown the bale into his truck, and decided it was a convenient time to do a little roadside "freshening up"... I advised him that he had mistakenly confiscated my property, reached in and grabbed my insulation, and headed back to the van. If the guy hadn't had that 3rd cup of coffee, it would have been gone forever.
I knew he wouldn't argue or give chase... afterall, his hands were... uh, full...
The children still giggle about that adventure, and after enough time went by, even my wife is amused by it. (She was far less enthusiastic while the van was lurching through the tall grass spinning mud up onto the doors...
)
Lee
