Being Kenny’s Passenger Can Leave A Feller Hung Out To Dry Sometimes.

It wasn’t so long ago, maybe a couple of years back, that Kenny and I went up south of Dallas to look at a piece of equipment he was considering buying.

We went through and picked up Ken Akins, out east of Waco on our way up. We had a nice visit that was mostly uneventful, except we exchanged lots of stories.

After dropping Ken back at his house we came on south and had to get off to take care of a little business up north of Bruceville-Eddy. That’s something between the two of us that happens pretty regular when we travel. You just don’t get our age without the frequency deal kicking in.

As we got ready to get back on I-35, there was a big traffic slowdown happening which is every few miles along that stretch of highway. For whatever reason a fellow in a one ton dually pickup pulling a trailer decided to not be neighborly and let us in. Well that caused us to be right beside him for a few moments. A few words were exchanged and then the traffic started moving so Kenny shot the gas to it and was able to pull in front.

About that time our new pal behind decided to set down on his horn and just keep blowing it. I’m not sure exactly what happened next but Kenny must have thought the guy want to visit there in the middle of everything. By Kenny coming to a sudden stop caused the Ol’ Boy to run into the back of us. The receiver hitch on Kenny’s rear bumper went right in that guys grill and messed it up pretty bad.

They were both standing in the middle of that Interstate Highway for a couple of minutes, further obstructing traffic, so it was decided they both would pull down to the next exit and iron everything out.

When both parties had arrived at the pull off area, cooler heads prevailed. Kenny’s truck wasn’t hurt that bad and the other guy ran into the back of him, so they each decided to call it a day and move on.

We headed on out and evidently some busy-body type had called the law and swore up and down that the front vehicle had intentionally caused the whole thing. That caused a local city cop to get involved and come up and pull Kenny over, claiming we had left the scene of an accident.

Kenny was in no mood to listen to that nonsense, so he proceeded to talk rather pointedly to the policeman. By that time the other fellow, (and by the way he was from up north some place, like Iowa or Minnesota) had made his way on up to where we were to rehash the whole thing.

I just stayed in the pickup where I had the air conditioner blowing on me. It was the middle of the summer time. No wonder tempers were flaring, it was hot.

I had already reclined my seat and was getting ready for a protracted conversation between all parties. About that time a policeman arrived at my door to get my story. I told him I had no idea what had happened, as I was just sitting there minding my own business trying to post something on Facebook. Therefore I didn’t see what happened. I thought the guy behind us had run into the back of our pickup.

I had no idea what kind of cockamamie stories were being discussed so I didn’t feel at liberty to throw my two cents worth in and confuse that whole situation.

After a pretty good while everything got sorted out and we were headed on down the highway. Kenny looked over at me and said ” why in the hell didn’t you tell that cop what happened“, like I had any idea which story I was suppose to tell him.

Should I have told the cop that Kenny slammed on his brakes to teach that yankee a lesson? Or maybe lie and say the fellow just ran into the back of us as we were innocently driving down the highway?

I doubt seriously that what I would have said would have completely lined up with Kenny Lewis’s recollection. Then what would we have had?