Yes, that is an observation I made this evening. I was heading to my parents house to pick up Kathryn for dog 4-H (translation: at least one hour of watching your child and her dog walk in a big circle, occasionally taking a break from walking to do long sits and downs). What can I say, the dog and kid love it!!!!
Anyway, back to my story. As I came up over a small rise, I noticed something in the road at the bottom of the rise. I quickly recognized this lump as a snapping turtle. This was not a small turtle, but rather a grandma or grandpa of the swamp, I'm sure. Recognition and realization hit at about the same time. Realization.....one, I can't swerve into the other lane, due to oncoming traffic and two, I'm not going to get stopped in time to avoid it. But one more thought zipped through my head....I could just drive over it. After all, how tall can a snapping turtle be, right?
Well, over the turtle I went.........with an enormous clunk!!!! I drive a Ford Windstar, so there isn't a lot of clearance underneath. And definitely not enough to get safely over a Grandma or Grandpa Turtle. Amazingly enough, the turtle survived the attack from my van. I suspect it had a pretty major headache for awhile after.
As I picked Kathryn up, I confessed to my parents what I had just done. My father replied, "so that was the big thump I heard when I was walking up from the shop." Mind you they live at least a 1/4 mile from the scene of the crime.
Lesson learned.......snapping turtles are taller than you think!
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