Tempting Fate

We all knew it was only a matter of time before I did something stupid.

I'm not gonna say that it involved driving in the dark,

down a deserted highway.

Or a close call with a moose.

But you could probably guess that it did.

Let me start from the beginning:

I finished my "to-do" list for Montreal on Tuesday early in the morning. So I headed to the nearest Flying J, had a shower, and decided I was going to drive as far as I could towards my first destination in New Brunswick - Miramichi. When I punched the city into my GPS it said the arrival time would be 10:45 p.m. and I knew I would not make it the whole way because I don't like driving at night. So, I decided I would try and make it to New Brunswick then stop for the night.

As it would go, I actually made it into New Brunswick around 4:30 and figured I would keep driving a little longer until I saw a place to stop.

Around 6:00 I came upon another city that had lots of places that I could stop but I figured, what could it possibly hurt to keep going a little while longer. It's still bright out. 

Around 7:00 I took an exit that literally had be pass right by a 24 hour truck stop/restaurant that would have been the perfect place to stop for the night but I got greedy and decided to push forward, just a little bit. There HAD to be another little town within the next little while that I could stop at.

Right?

Shortly after I passed that perfect truck stop my route led me to a highway (Highway 108 aka Plaster Rock) which I have nothing to compare to. Picture a dirt road with a mediocre pave job, barely wide enough for two lanes (one in either direction), no shoulder and pure wilderness on either side. Next gas station - 138 km. That was at 8pm. 

What had I gotten myself into. 

For the next 100 km I drove, cautiously, going 80 km/hr furiously scanning from left to right, right to left for any and all signs of movement that may be wildlife. I thought it was kind of odd that there wasn't a single warning sign on this highway to warn of deer or moose considering it ran literally through the middle of the wilderness. Almost every highway I have travelled on thus far has warning signs all over the place. It was very weird and I didn't trust that. In the 100 km I had already driven, there were maybe three cars that passed me travelling in the opposite direction. The sky was cloudy and the moon was hidden. My headlights were virtually the only light I was relying on. I watched kilometre by kilometre as my GPS ticked down letting me know I was almost at the next turn on my route. I have to admit, for a little while, I was thoroughly convinced that this was going to be how I died. 

Then, up a little ways I could see red lights flashing. 

My first instincts were that it was someone having car trouble and had their flashers on to warn oncoming traffic and to request assistance. Then, I thought maybe it was someone pulling a heavy load and they had their flashers on to warn that they were moving slow. Then, I noticed that there were three lights - two tail lights and one higher up. As I slowed down and came up to this car I could see it was a minivan towing a tent trailer. I thought they must be having problems or were going slow because of the trailer. As I inched, slowly, to the left to see what the problem was low and behold, there was a moose! Awkwardly trotting down the highway. Hooves criss-crossing over one another as it panickedly tried to work out an exit strategy - picture the the scene where Bambi is learning how to walk, now imagine Bambi being 6.5-7 ft tall. 

This BEAST was gigantic. It's legs alone were almost the height of the van. So I kept back. I slowly followed behind this stranger as they drove slow and steadily, guiding the moose with their headlights until the moose finally trotted back into the bushes. 

At this point I was shaking. I look up to the GPS - only 40 km to go. You better believe I trailed that van like my life depended on it. I was not going to let a moose get between us because this driver clearly knew what they were doing. 

For almost two hours this entire stretch of highway was deserted. Just as danger presented itself, out of no where came a stranger in a minivan to save the day and probably my life. As soon as I got off the highway I pulled over at the first place that I possibly could - a gas station in Blackville, NB - clearly named after the amount of night time visibility. 

So, lesson learned. Moral of the story - trust my instincts and no driving after 6:30 p.m.

 You can't really see it but that white spot in the bottom right corner in front of the car is the back of the moose.

Good 'ol Blackville. I parked to the left of where that yellow truck is.