The Oak Tree Won

This has nothing to do with my cats, but was so very unusual a thing to happen in my life that I thought I should share.

As usual, 6 am-ish, I started out on my walk. At the head of my street, if you make a right turn, there is an oak tree at the corner. It isn't very close to the corner--it doesn't block your view or anything (even driving), but it's close enough to be considered in the corner.

This morning, there were all kinds of lights up there. Police lights, yellow lights that I first thought was a fire only no crackling noises, and several non-police vehicles, one of which was the cause of all the commotion.

 For some reason known only to himself (and probably his GPS), someone drove a full size 18 wheeler with trailer up my road (which goes nowhere interesting) and then didn't swing wide enough to get around the corner. Notice he managed to leave the stop sign intact, but he did his best to take out the tree.

Big oak tree usually wins over half-empty trailer

This picture was actually taken on my way back because it didn't occur to me till half an hour into my walk that I should have taken pictures! Some reporter I'd be. But that bend in the trailer? That was quite precisely where the big tree next to the stop sign was.

When I first came by they were unloading the trailer by hand (and there wasn't a lot; it was front loaded with only a few pallets high). Me and my near-sighted eyes couldn't make out the product. But there was also a tow truck there. Not a tow truck that could handle the big rig. Just a baby tow truck like you or I would call to put our vehicles on the back of it.

Coming back through I discovered why the little tow truck was there--they were using it to transport the goods they unloaded from the trailer. Makes sense. Easier than trying to get a small truck there.

I talked to one of the cops who was going back to his car (which was blocking traffic at the other end of the cross street) and asked what happened (he didn't know any more than I did) and if I could take pictures.

This is what the inside of the trailer looked like. He squashed it but good!

He said sure but don't get too close; they're currently moving the damaged trailer and it's partially suspended. I said don't worry, my dad drove 18 wheelers for 50 years, and I have a healthy respect for their power and weight.He looked skeptical, but didn't say anything.

(You can see the big tow truck that can move 18 wheelers in the corner of the picture.)

And then I saw what he was hauling, stacked up neatly on the baby tow truck.And the punchline is:

He was hauling Bud Light. It was a beer truck! I wonder if they tested the driver for intoxication. Perhaps he was sampling his goods?

Seemed strangely appropriate

Oh, and sorry for the photo quality, but you try taking pictures from a ways back in the dark with just an iPhone flash! And the cop was quite correct--there was no way I was getting any closer to a big rig being moved. I've seen my dad's old tractor (the engine part of an 18 wheeler, as opposed to the trailer part) run over an apple. It's a messy way to make applesauce and will, guaranteed, make you positive never to put a body part anywhere near a moving truck. 

Addendum: I checked the tree out the next day. Aside from a double-palm sized area of bark removed about a foot from the base, and a much smaller scratch higher up, the tree has suffered no ill effects. As long as it doesn't get a tree-cold through the place where there's no bark, it should be fine.