I’m not sure I spelled his name correctly, but in the Li’l Abner cartoon series of many years ago, there was a character named Joe Btzflpk. I remember him well because he walked around with a little gray cloud just above his head. Lightning flashed from the cloud. However, everyone else walked in perfect sunshine. Bad things were always happening, but mainly to Joe Btzflpk. He seemed to attract disaster wherever he went.

A few weeks ago, I shared the story of the U-Haul truck that came across a double yellow line in the mountains of North Carolina and hit Tonka’s left rear-view mirror. It smashed into the side window and totally shattered it.

Well, over Mother’s Day, Pat and I piled just about everything we own into Tonka 02 and headed up to Massena, NY, to help celebrate Mother’s Day with Pat’s Mom and lots and lots of family members.

The first sign of the perpetual gray cloud happened when I went to get a Trip-Tik. I happened to get a trainee! ‘Nuff said? Maybe not. In the first place, she routed us up I-95 which I’d told her I never ever wanted to drive again. She then left out all the little “under construction” stampings that would have warned us about what was yet to come.

I-75 to I-10 here in Florida was a breeze. We spent the night south of Savannah. The road was terrific. As soon as we set out the next day, we battled construction zones just about every mile for 17 hours.

Have you ever passed the same vehicle several times on a trip? They stop; you stop, etc. I passed a semi-truck three times as we drove through North Carolina. I remembered it because someone had scrawled “Jesus Saves” in the dust and dirt on the rear doors. Pat and I talked about whether the driver might be a Christian or was just the victim of some zealous Christian graffiti artist.

A little later, we came across a fresh accident. A semi (the same semi) had missed a right curve on our side of the Super Slab and plowed into a stand of large pine trees. He’d buried the truck clear to the rear doors. I saw emergency personnel carrying a body bag toward an ambulance.

About an hour later, we were discussing the accident, wondering whether the driver of the truck was a Christian, what about his family, etc. Suddenly, like a shot, came this loud cracking sound. Something had hit the passenger side windshield wiper blade and shattered that side of the front windshield. Where in the world was that gray cloud? (g)

Pat believes it came off the overpass under which we were running. There were no vehicles for at least two hundred yards ahead of us. Was it thrown by someone or hurled over the side by the wheel of another vehicle? Who knows for sure. About a year ago, an out-of-state schoolteacher was driving one county north of us. Some young men threw a chunk of concrete off an overpass. It came through her side of the windshield, killing her instantly. Of course, that was fresh in our minds. As we left on this trip, the young fellas were in the process of being sentenced.

Does Tonka 02 have a little gray cloud hanging above it? I don’t really think so, but she does seem to attract things that break glass! (g) Were we thankful that no one was hurt? Absolutely. After all, glass can be replaced. Where was God when the schoolteacher got hit? That’s an interesting point to consider. She was a believer, too. Well, it’s more than I can figure out today.

Your thoughts, conclusions, insights, etc. would be very helpful. Please use the “Leave a Reply” box below!  I do enjoy hearing from you.

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