Dallas Hearts Doggies
From Frontburner:
About 8:15 a.m. this morning, I’m driving westbound on I-30 between Fair Park and downtown. Suddenly, cars in all four lanes begin slowing. This is happening about seven or eight cars ahead of me. Then the lead cars in each lane begin driving erratically — criss-crossing lanes, speeding up then slowing down, turning around and heading TOWARD traffic, then circling back. After a few minutes of confusion, I catch a glimpse of a dog — looked like a white-and-black mutt, about the size of a border collie — running full speed in the middle of the highway, also westbound, like he’d just escaped from the Shawshank Pound and has decided he won’t be taken alive. So what follows is an incredibly intricate, mile-long, multi-car dog roundup. Cars whisking by each other to aggressively form a far-west barrior while the cars behind form a moving blockade. Meanwhile, a few trucks — the herders — operate between these barriors and try to direct the dog to the side of the road. A few times, a man in a white truck (his dog, perhaps?) gets out of the truck to grab him then jumps back in as the dog, who by now I’ve dubbed “Andy Dufresne,” escapes through the rolling blockade.
This goes on for a good 10 minutes. A gaggle of kids on a short bus a few cars ahead of me have their heads out the window, cheering Andy on toward I-45 and his boat in Zihuatanejo. Shockingly (or, perhaps, not), NO ONE is honking. Everyone seems content to roll along slowly, watch the rescue operation, and pray for poor Andy.
Finally, Andy begins to slow. Like a scene out of C*O*P*S, five cars swerve to the side of the road, forming a tight circle. People jump out, corner Andy, and the man in the white truck scoops him up. Even though we can get by now, all the cars are stopped, waiting for the outcome. The guy, dog in hand, smiles, everyone gives him the high sign, and I-30 begins to move again.
During this, I of course called Tim, because I know this sort of stuff drives him INSANE. And, in Tim’s defense, I know that if that had been a homeless person running in the middle of the street, 74 percent of those same people would have pulled a Strong Mayor and run him over before heading to Starbucks. That said, it was still kinda cool to see.
That is so great! Especially in that I have a wee Border COllie myself. WHo would have thought it – in Dallas. I am heartened.