If Ruby5 can have tales of drunkenness, so can my ruby blog.
On Sunday, on the way back home from town, we were driving down a four-lane city street. The guy just ahead of us in the other lane was swerving towards oncoming traffic. Every time a car would come the other way, he would drift across the yellow line. Anticipating a collision that would send his truck rebounding into my lane, I slowed and left plenty of space. This foresight proved prudent when the road narrowed to two lanes, as he swerved at the last second into my lane.
I continued to leave plenty of space, about 150 yards, which brought out the impatience in the drivers behind me. Two such drivers passed on the now dark country highway, only to find obviously-inebriated-dude just ahead. The driver-who-shouldn’t-have-been pulled part way off the road and stopped (on a state highway!) to let the rest of us pass. I tried to slow down enough that he’d go on without me passing, but he waved me on. (This was the wave that is featured in the title of this post.)
I reluctantly passed, and traffic ahead of me slowed. I slowed, and saw the lights behind me accelerate. Great, I thought, now I’m going to get rear-ended. I pulsed my brake lights, and that got his attention so he slowed. The cars ahead sped up, then slowed again. Repeat the pulsing lights to encourage Mr. Tipsy to slow down. At the first side street, I turned off the highway, turned around, and got back on the highway. This was plenty of time for the subject of the story to pass.
At the next major intersection, I was committed to turning a different direction from the other traveller. He went straight, down a gravel county road (county road 50 S), which suited me fine, as I was turning right (onto highway 29).
The rest of the story made the paper. Fortunately, nobody suffered permanent injuries.
Matt on Rails 