February 7, 2023

Restless night, up many times, certain that I had one illness or other that I did not have. Sent J and L on their way, then packed myself and hit the road toward the mountains. When I left Edisto, a gibbous moon hung bright in the south and dawn made all the sky over the sea blood red. Whatever advantage there was in leaving so early was mitigated by rte 17's being a parking lot. I assumed it was a normal commuter issue, but down the road it was revealed to be a bottleneck created by the police. Of course. 526 was backed up too, again, so far as I could see, by an unexplained police presence. I-26 was backed up (going the other way, thank God) because its nature is to be backed up. I witnessed a terrible crash. A big white truck a little in front of me jerked to the left, went off the road and plunged into the very deep ditch between sides of the road. It was going at least 70. It almost climbed the slope into oncoming traffic, but fell back, still at a tremendous rate of speed, bucking like a wild horse, shedding panels and bits of itself into the air. As I passed I looked to see if I could see the driver, and I couldn’t. I wanted to stop, but considered what I could do, and the answer was probably nothing except maybe cause another accident. Behind me the road was clear for ten minutes, presumably the traffic pausing or stopping for the wreck.