Hello ladies and gentlemen,
Yes, the JC is still on the road, but it will soon return to the great state of Ohio!! I apologize to all my faithful readers who were expecting a special edition a couple weeks ago. Due to a lack of resources, the JC was unable to produce a special edition. I would like to expand the number of readers that the JC has, so if you know of anyone who knows how to read please send their email address to me, so the JC may brighten their day. It has also come to my attention (through some faithful readers) that I do not have some of the correct email addresses for some particular readers, and I would also like to correct this wrong.
Throughout my fours years in the Chicago-land area, I have taken numerous automobile trips on Interstate 290 (aka The Eisenhower Expressway). For the most part, it can be guaranteed that traffic congestion will provide commuters with a slower ETA to their destination than they expected. This could not have been more true last evening.
I proceeded to enter the expressway last night at approximately 8 o'clock p.m. Traffic at this point in time was moving considerably well, despite the fact that it was Labor Day. Unfortunately, my commute to Wheaton would be slowed by almost forty-five minutes due to a major traffic accident that closed both east and west bound lanes of the Eisenhower near the Manheim Street exit (a busy street that some travelers take to O'Hare Airport). Traffic came to a standstill about a half a mile away from the accident scene. The temperature at the time was about 65 degrees, but the heat waves from the seemingly endless line of metal, gas, and rubber gave the illusion that it was warmer than it was supposed to be. Through the waves, I could see people getting out of their cars, trucks and semis trying to get a better view of the carnage that was ahead. A helicopter soon hovered close to the accident scene, but it's final descent was swallowed up by the long line of vehicles in front of me.
A couple of Hispanic teenagers got out of a car behind me and crossed the concrete median to attempting to get a better view than the one they previously had. They looked like a young superhero combo. Both wore white headbands, with brightly colored t-shirts and shorts. One of the teenagers who carried a great deal of body weight walked patiently back and forth on the deserted road while his smaller and skinnier counterpart walked atop the concrete barrier to make up for his lack of height. In the furthermost left hand lane, an Asian family had caught my attention in a Lexus SUV. They felt the best way to view the action would be through their sunroof. A small black, shimmery head of hair peeked out of the top of the sunroof; the owner of that hair was a young boy most likely no older than six. His older sister (maybe an age of nine or ten) decided to try her luck at the sunroof. She soon disappeared into the comfort of tan leather and tinted windows, but their jack-in-the-box routine wasn't finished. The father wanted his turn and squeezed his semi-muscular girth through the sunroof. A truck driver who had earlier let me merge into his lane hopped out of his cab to try and view the accident. His attempts were by far the most surprising. He began to walk towards the scene with some kind of black object in his right hand. At first, I thought it was a cell phone, but he soon put the object to his face. After a closer investigation, I realized the object was not a cell phone but a pair of binoculars! Another motorist took up conversation with binocular-man and amused himself by picking up a toy gun that was left on the left berm of the expressway.
On the right berm, impatient motorists who had the luxury of being the right hand lane of the expressway began to slowly back up and head to an off ramp about 500 feet away. A steady stream of rear car bumpers illuminated with white lights moved towards the exit. Around 8:40 pm, the line of cars began to move forward. People who were breaking their necks to see the wrecked metal and rescue efforts jumped back in their cars. As I approached the scene, I took note of an overpass that looked as if it was holding not just passing vehicles but curious spectators. I was amazed to see that the line of individuals spanned the length of the overpass. Like the flying insects that excitedly fly around a bright spotlight on a warm summer night, these people also seemed to be drawn by the bright spotlights housed on top of the fire trucks and road department vehicles, not to mention the accident scene itself.
The traffic began to move with a little more speed thanks to the road flares and police officers who herded the mass of vehicles towards the next off ramp. I was now able to clearly see the helicopter, which I had previously lost sight off, sitting comfortably on a makeshift expressway/airstrip 200 feet in front of me. The traffic moved so quickly that the accident scene was soon behind me. I never really did get a good glimpse of the accident itself, because the traffic movement began to pick up. On my way back to Oak Park later that evening the only remnants of the accident were a section of decimated guardrail about ten feet in length, which was missing and a large collection of metal debris embedded in the grass on the median. Without those clues, no one would know without looking at the scene that a major accident had taken place hours before.
I guess that last night was just one of those adventures in people watching. What did I do besides watch the other motorists? I called my brother to see if the accident was on the news, and my sis-in-law gave me a radio station to check out that gave traffic info. The station gave me the news I already knew from my observation; both lanes of the Eisenhower near Manheim were closed due to an accident, a helicopter is on the scene. I popped in some Pink Floyd and just sat back and relaxed, until I passed the scene.
Well that's it, yeah, I know it's long, but it was good I hope?!
Jonathan
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