One day last week my boss called me at home. We need you to go to the beach and do a story about cold stunned turtle's being released, he said.
He was expecting me to be grumpy. I am often grumpy. However, given the option between spending the day in the office dealing with murder, meth and other mayhem or spending the day on sugar white sand watching turtles trot off into the Gulf ... well, make mine turtles.
Terry Barner and I got there a little early. I drove my wife's explorer down an access road thinking I would run into the turtle people. Instead, just as Terry started to warn me, I hit the sand.
I hit the sand hard.
I put her in reverse but soon realized I was stuck. I was also blocking the access road for the turtle people and other members of the media. Basically, I was 15 minutes away from changing the day's headlines from, "Turtles released into Gulf" to "Idiot blocks road, stops turtles from going home."
Terry and I started digging while being careful, so very careful not to hit any turtle nests. I got in front and pushed while Terry threw it into reverse. It took 10 minutes of this but eventually we got the Explorer out, back to the asphalt and out of the way.
And then, we spent the day at the beach.
