This is the time of year that people in the country complain about traffic jams. Most of the time we scoot along without much other traffic. In the spring we have to contend with a tractor here and there. But this time of year you can expect to meet or get behind every type of farm implement there is. It’s harvest time.
This morning I was running a little bit late getting the kids to school. I should have known better. I had gone a couple of miles up the road and then I saw it, over the next hill. There was already 3 or 4 cars behind the mini-convoy. I say mini because this time it was only a tractor with some kind of implement behind it and a pick-up truck that was escorting the tractor because it was moving slow. It didn’t take long for that little traffic jam of 3 or 4 cars was 9 or 10 cars. You see it was rush hour in the country. The kids were on their way to school.
Since this is a two-lane road I don’t usually try to pass. I’m usually not in that big of a hurry. But this morning I was running a little late. And I was starting to get bored behind the tractor, the pick-up and the other cars waiting for the tractor to pull off or turn or something.
We finally came to a point where I could pass. There wasn’t anything coming. I usually don’t like to pass more than one vehicle at a time. But I didn’t want to just pass closer to the tractor so I gunned it and passed them off. My kids were sure that we were going to die. I knew we were fine. And we were. From that point on it was smooth sailing.
But that got me thinking about all of the other traffic concerns that we have here in the country. Tractors and combines are pretty common. Escort trucks are to be expected. The other day I was sitting out on my deck and saw this major convoy going by. It was two combines, 3 semi grain trucks and two other pick-ups along for the ride. Fortunately they weren’t going too far. They were heading up the road to a farm to combine corn. It was funny to me that they were all together.
Normally that big equipment is escorted. And it is moving slow so you have time to slow down and get over onto the shoulder to allow it to pass. If you’re behind it and you have a considerate driver he’ll pull over if he sees a line behind him and he can pull over safely. I like those guys.
We grow tobacco. I have been in plenty of convoys where we were driving pretty slow, pulling scaffold wagons of tobacco from the field to the barn. We had any and all vehicles out there who could pull anything. And we always went together. But we have had a tractor with sprayer followed by a pick-up with a water tank on the trailer. The tractor with the setter followed by a pick-up full of people who are either going to set tobacco or coming from the field is very common in the spring. There are plenty of times that I get behind one of these and start cussing only to find it has my husband at the helm.
There are Amish wagons out on the road, going pretty slow. They used to have a caution triangle on the back of their wagons but not anymore. The law was changed to just allow reflective tape so that their religious beliefs were not trampled. I guess those lawmakers in Frankfort have never topped a hill during the middle of the day and not been able to see that reflective tape on the back of a buggy and had to slam on their brakes because they didn’t realize it was an Amish buggy blending into the blacktop. Depending on where you get behind them on the highway depends on how long you have to wait.
The rural mail carriers have to be paid attention to also. They do have caution symbols, signs and lights on their vehicles. They’re easy to see. The problem with them is that you are sure you can get around them before that car coming towards you gets there. I’m sure those mail carriers pray that you can too.
But the absolute worst is someone hauling hay. These guys that haul hay think that just because it’ll fit on the trailer without falling off means they can move it that way. I met a pick-up pulling a trailer with 9 big round bales. It didn’t even look tied down. I held my breath the entire time I was going by them. I slowed down and pulled off onto the shoulder. But I still knew those bales were going to go rolling. Thank goodness they didn’t. But it wasn’t but a few days later that there was a pick-up with a trailer load of square bales piled high. Fortunately they didn’t come over into my lane like the round bales. But I still had to hold my breath.
Most everyone who travels the country roads are aware of the equipment and are pretty patient with it. You can usually tell when someone from out of the area is behind one of these convoys. They are pretty impatient and keep trying to pass only to be thwarted by on-coming traffic. And the people moving the equipment or the commodities are extra careful and patient. But you know it’s got to be stressful for them to have all of that traffic behind them. They try to move on but there’s only so much they can do.
Of course I do put this into perspective a lot. I remember back when I lived in the city and traffic would be backed up at least 30 minutes during rush hour, every day. The other day I went to Nashville and there was an area that took me an hour to go 1 mile. Once I realized that the traffic wasn’t moving at all I got off on the next exit and turned around. So our little traffic jams, a couple of times a year, are nothing compared to the traffic in the city. And getting the kids to school 5 minutes later is not that big a deal. I think I can handle it. As long as a hay bale doesn’t roll off of the trailer after me.