The Flying Wheelbarrow

Some time back, when my father ran over my sister, I made mention of the time my father wrecked his wheelbarrow. I never followed up on that. I did tell on myself about the time I wrecked the riding mower in the middle of my hometown. But I never followed up on the story of the wheelbarrow wreck.

Back when my daughter was just a toddler, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It scared him. As you could imagine.

So, he called us all together and told us how he wanted things ... in case things didn't go well ... so there'd be no misunderstanding or anything.

But, he got through it okay. Well, maybe not okay, but the six months to live without the surgery have become over 20 years with the surgery. So, yeah. He got through it okay.

But, for a bit, he couldn't drive. Some say he still can't. Some say he didn't drive all that good to start with. Either way, he was physically unable to drive for a bit. But he didn't stop working to recover, and eventually was able to drive.

Now, I mentioned the other day he always bought piece-of-crap vehicles. Some worse than others. Now, some had special meaning, like his father-in-law's truck. But a little Ford Falcon truck isn't the best vehicle in the world. But it works for a grandfather, especially one that uses it to go fishing.

Only, my father, although a grandfather, never did fish a lot. Not that I recall. Oh, a couple of times, but that's it. You thought about Senior, you never thought "fisherman."

But, he got an old Ford Falcon. Now, I'm not certain if the one he was driving that fateful day was his father-in-law's, but I'm thinking it was that kind of truck. And, for some reason, he had the wheelbarrow in the back.

Now, I don't know if you've ever transported a wheelbarrow by truck, but the best way is to have it upside down and secured with ropes or something. I'm not sure if it was the "upside down" part he didn't do, or if it was the "ropes or something" he failed to use, but the wheelbarrow was not secure.

And, when he pulled out of his driveway onto a 2-lane 55-MPH-speed-limit U.S. highway, he was on his way up to the truck's cruising speed of 40 MPH.

About that time, a pulpwood truck was coming the other way on the 2-lane. And, being a 2-lane, the vehicles were very close to each other as they passed.

If you've never been next to a pulpwood truck when it passed, they do put out a bit of wind. So, a pulpwood truck going 60 MPH in one direction, passing a small truck going 40 MPH the other direction, nets out to 100 MPH. And that much wind will cause a wheelbarrow to lift from the bed of a truck.

Only, the thing is, a wheelbarrow isn't all that aerodynamic. So it won't stay airborne long. And it doesn't land gracefully. Nor does it hold up well when another truck runs over it.

There were words said, and insurance companies got involved, and things got ugly.

But not as ugly as a run-over wheelbarrow.

Like I mentioned earlier, some wondered if my father should be driving. But he compromised. He's no longer flying wheelbarrows.