Counting cars at 3:00 in the morning

By Jamie Rieger
Normally, when I am out on the road, I prefer it when there is light traffic and not a lot of delays getting me from Point A to Point B.
On Saturday night however, after an evening of babysitting my granddaughter that went a lot later than her parents first thought, I would have welcomed a bit more traffic on Highway Three as I made my way back home.
I counted only three vehicles heading in the opposite direction. As each of them passed, I wondered what had them on the road at Stupid O’clock in the morning. Did they have jobs that had them starting before dawn? Were they just heading home from a long night of socializing? And if yes, had they been drinking? (They all stayed within the lines, so I assume they had not been in the sauce.)
Perhaps, like me, they were heading home to their beds because of family commitments.
This was not the first time I was on the road at weird hours and when I was, the only traffic I pass are big semis hauling their freight to points unknown.
On this night, I did not see one big rig on the road…not one. I actually found that a little unusual, given that the highway is a major east-west transport corridor. By comparison, I usually see at least two or three, sometimes more, semis passing by.
As those three passenger vehicles made their way closer to the glow of the city lights, I headed deeper into the black of nights, with only the moon and stars above. It was a clear night, so the stars were abundant as I drove west.
It was not long before I was pulling into my driveway, ready to find my pillow and catch a few hours of sleep before the sun would rise and awaken me. I think I was in dreamland as soon as I put my head down.

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