A few years ago we had torrential rains for 2 days here in western Oregon,
around Thanksgiving, and added to this was runoff from storms in the
Cascade mountains to the east of us. Driving to work one morning I came to
a spot where high water frequently came near the level of the grade, and
that day it was a full river flowing gently but steadily towards me at an
angle. I was in my old 3/4 ton Ch**y Suburban at the time, so well above
it, but coming towards me was about a '78 full size Cadillac driven by an
elderly guy, followed by a couple of pick-ups. Suddenly I realized the
Caddy was moving slowly across my path, with the water flow, and that he
was actually afloat. Poor guy had no choice but to drift across the road
into the (luckily shallow) ditch on my side. What was very odd, though,
was that the two trucks behind him followed him exactly, even though they
were above the water level, and the first of them followed him down into
the ditch, whilst the second one realized his mistake at the last moment,
and swerved away, narrowly missing me. I stuck around until a State Patrol
vehicle arrived before driving on my way, but I confess I thought about
asking the Caddy driver why his navigation lights weren't illuminated,
although I was quite happy to admit that sail has right of way over a motor
(an old rule of the sea). I wasn't absolutely sure he had his sense of
humor with him at that moment though, so I kept quiet.
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