Dino vs. Moose: I "didn't" see both!

As suggested in my very first post, former potential titles will be explained sometime... here goes.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I um, "live" in New England.  One day (hopefully sooner rather than later) we will happily part ways.. but for now I'm here.  A myth that I have heard is that moose live in New England! Not near me of course, I live near people, not forest, and not near Canada... but once in a while moose somehow manage to find their way toward civilization.  This article (even though this town is not closeby) made me soooo jealous.  But at least this time there were pictures! 

A few months ago there was a moose spotted IN MY TOWN!  Because only the town paper reported on it, I found out of its existence about 4 days after the last sighting (and there were NO pictures, LIES).  But I hope you don't think for one second that I was thinking rationally when I spent the next 3 nights driving around in dark parking lots in every area it was spotted... with my headlights turned off. I heard a rumor that moose like dark.

The lastest spotting reminded me of when I saw a dinosaur in New York, and I wanted to tell you alllll about it.

I'm from a little town in New Jersey, where deer roam free and I have a rational fear of them. Rational, as in 2 months after I got my license AND car, a deer ran into my front left fender. I know what you're thinking.. but I couldn't have hit it, it would have been head on, no? The stupid thing ran into the car, left fur, then ran off into the woods. Since then they've been taunting me by hanging out on my parent's front lawn nearly every time I visit. It doesn't help that my parents are quite the gardners and attract the stupid beasts with pretty tulips.  Sensitive subject, trust me, I'm right. Leave it at that.

So last fall I was making one of my many trips to NJ by car, which means once Connecticut finally ends, I manage my way through NY and into the Garden State.  For some reason this past fall produced very humid nights.  I happened to leave much later than planned on this trip (closer to 8pm than the 5pm I expected), which isn't a big deal.. it just means that I leave in the dark and try not to fall asleep behind the wheel.  I know my rest stops by heart and don't worry too much about driving to NJ in the dark.

As I exited Connecticut, I continued until I reached the exit for I-684 (NY speak for the very bare version of a highway that will take you through Westchester County).  I was only about two miles in when I realized that there just weren't that many cars on the road.  In either direction.  No big deal... not to worry that I had a lot to drink and that the only rest stop on this highway is the subject of many a nightmare.. nope no worries.  Another few miles down I realized that I couldn't see that far ahead and slowed to about 45... then 35... and when I realized I was the only car on the highway and going 20 mph, I knew there was a problem.  The sudden dense fog had set in all around my car and my headlights were illuminating about half a foot in front of my hood.  Did I mention 684 is a plateau? Yep, learned that after the fact.

At least 15 minutes had gone by and I don't even think I drove a mile... ONCE a truck passed, so I zipped behind it as if the theory about driving behind a truck in hurricane rain would work in thick fog.  The truck left me hanging by myself 40 seconds later.  Then the fog lightened up, I drove as fast as possible hoping to make up some time and get as far away from that road as possible, when 3 miles later it got thick again.  I slowed down, turned off the radio and hoped for the best as I drove.  Not even a few minutes later I noticed a shadow up ahead.  (I was hoping it wasn't a disabled truck in the middle of the highway because surely I would have no reaction time.)  Since I was driving 6 miles an hour, this shadow appeared in verrrrrrry slow motion.  Only problem? It was getting larger.  MUCH larger.  Honestly? At first I thought MOOOOSE and reached into my purse for my camera without taking my eye off the road.  But the shadow became much larger than any moose I had ever imagined.  What is bigger than a moose? Giraffe? I couldn't figure out in my head how far away the Bronx Zoo was or why the radio hadn't mentioned an escaped giraffe.  Then it hit me.  DINOSAUR.  Not just any dinosaur.  This was a big honkin' brontosaurus hanging out on NY I-684.  OMGGGGGG.  I slowed down, imagining what the bottom of a brontosaurus foot looks like when I get toward the middle of the shadow, then under it.... and ..... its.... an overpass. (damn fog).

A couple hours later, its almost 3AM, I finally get to my house and there are TWO deer on the front lawn.