I told you some weeks ago I was looking for some excitement along the roads of my many journeys.

 Almost every day I am faced with lots of rain showers. Because I am all over the state and traveling at varied times of the day, a rainy night in Florida is a common ­occurrence.

As luck would have it, my wish came true. It was about 1 a.m., the ditches were overflowing with water, the frogs were croaking. I rounded a big sweeping turn just north of the intersection of S.R. 29 and U.S. 27 when I saw something ahead on the highway. I quickly, but gently put on the brakes, swerving just missing an alligator leisurely crossing the highway.

Whew, that was close. He was about eight feet long and quite fat. He would have been quite a bump to deal with, and with the rainy conditions may have caused me to have an accident. I was traveling about fifty-five miles an hour, so it could have been a dangerous ride.

It is fairly uncommon to see ­alligators crossing the highway, and this episode sure got my attention.

I was happy that I did not hit him for two reasons: the potential for an accident and, of course, killing a living creature troubles me.

We as humans need to recognize that we share even the highways with animals. I was happy to have this experience, and yet not have a negative outcome.

The rain continued that morning, but the excitement died down. The remainder of the trip back home gave me a easy and mellow “View From The Road.”

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

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