Fogbound in the Hills

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Rosie and I find ourselves in Roeland Park, Kansas, this overcast morning where we are visiting at the home of my son and his family.  We are here for the annual Macy family outing to see the KC Rep's production of "A Christmas Carol."  We have been bringing Olive to this show since she was four - with one year off for the pandemic - and she is eleven now.  Last year we brought Sully for the first time and he sat  mesmerized through the magic of the show.  Lots of carolers on stage and roaming through the audience in beautiful costumes, frighteningly Dickensian ghosts (one of which is on a very tall pair of stilts), and, of course, the wonderful story of Christmas across the social classes in Victorian London.  We always have good seats right down front, so close to the action that we are often in the London fog as it comes rolling off of the stage.

This trip has been marked by fog, so tonight's won't be quite as unique.  It was foggy here earlier this morning in Roeland Park, and yesterday while we were heading west and then north, I drove through a thick, pea soup fog from West Plains more than a hundred miles until just past Springfield.  I maintained a moderate speed and drove with the lights on, but many other drivers did not.  Cars without lights pose a danger on foggy days.

I remember one of my first driving lessons.  It was early evening and a fog was on the ground.  My dad was at the wheel and said "I want to show you something."  He explained that he had his "dims" on and we could see twenty-five feet or so down the road.  Then he switched on his "brights" and suddenly everything was lost in the fog.  He told me to always drive with the "dims" on when I was traveling through fog.

Today's newer cars have their lights set on dim, but some of the older models do not.   Sadly, many of the people cruising the highways also have their brains set on dim and don't bother with lights at all. 

Watch out for them!