So, let me tell you about the new friend we made along 40East on our way from Texas to Arkansas. Driving along the highway - Katrina driving, Kristi in the passengers seat and me, sitting on the floor between the two and straddling the luggage. It's about 10 o'clock at night and we're about one hour away from our final destination (after about 10 hours of travel) Kristi is asleep and Katrina and I having a quiet conversation so as not to wake her.
All of a sudden, Katrina says to me "What's that on our antenna?" I look through the front window and saw what appeared to be a large chunk of hair hanging on the side of the antenna (on the passengers side). We start to get a bit louder as we investigate this thing while going about 70 mph down the highway. Our conversation stirs Kristi who now is curious as to what is flapping in front of her like a flag on a windy day. "Oh look" she says, "a stowaway!"
I scurry to the back to get my trusty flashlight and shine it out the window. Indeed, we determined that it was a bird. "Well, how is it hanging on there?" Katrina asks her fellow RV'ers. "By it's little beak" Kristi exclaims. We marvel at the strength of this tiny bird and its beak going down the highway at such a speed. Kristi decides to take some photos and on further observation, we discover that it is not a bird, but a bat attached to our antenna.
Something else that astonishes us is that we have no idea when it decided to clamp down on our rig, but also that it was determined to hang on. The sight of this is not something we want to have in our faces for the hour or so it was going to take us to get to our destination, so Katrina decides to pull over at a rest stop that just so happened to be right ahead of us so that someone can get out and remove it. Taking the exit ramp, we see a sign that says "No Facilities". "What kind of rest stop is this..." we ask one another "...if it doesn't have a bathroom?" Not that any of us needed to use it, but an observation made by the group.
Being the "true camper" that I am, I volunteer to step out of the RV and take care of this thing. I take the small broom that Cruise America provided for us and whack at the end of the antenna, flinging this bat onto the windshield. Katrina then thinks it's a good idea to turn on the wiper blades to toss it off. First of all.....GROSS! And it didn't work. The wipers only tossed it to the other side, this time landing it in the tight area between the hood of the RV and the windshield. I then decide to take my broom again and use it as a pool stick and shoot it across the windshield like an 8-ball. Again, not completely off. I pass the broom then to Katrina who is able to hold on to the end of it and reach out her side of the window to swat it off.
The added bonus to this already exciting adventure is that on this rest stop ramp were a few tracker trailers doing exactly what one would think that a trucker does at a rest stop - rest. It is at this moment that Kristi decides to share with us that she recently watched an expose on Dateline about some of the shady things that actually happen at these rest areas. It was enough to freak out the "true camper" who decided to step outside of the safe RV.
Here endeth this little adventure with the bat and the "resting" truckers. We were on the road in short order, but not after laughing hysterically at the stowaway bat.
Signing off,
Nicole (The true camper)
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