Memoirs Part 22

I guess the next two stories should be titled “Don’t Drink and Drive.”

I was stationed at Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona. After a night of drinking, I thought I would drink more in Nogales, Mexico. That is about an hour drive from Tucson. Carlos, a first-year college student, lived in the same apartment complex as me. He wanted to go also. I wanted to pick up a couple of my friends who lived in a trailer on a farm outside of town. I drove there first to pick them up, but there was no way they were going to go so late at night. I decided to head back home. We were driving on dirt roads. I crossed the tracks at a railroad crossing and quickly realized I should have crossed at the next crossing. As I was backing over the tracks, I turned too soon and got stuck on a train rail. My back tires were just spinning. We tried putting things under the wheel, but nothing worked. It was around 11 p.m. We were in the desert and it was very flat. I looked both ways down the track but couldn’t see anything. I had a strange feeling and put my ear to the track and could hear rumbling. There was a bend in the railroad, and I saw a tiny light way down the track. Carlos was the state champion running in track, so I told him to start running and stop the train. About the same time, a car pulled up with two elderly couples I guess in their late 60s or early 70s. They told me that a train was coming, and I said that I knew but Carlos was going to stop it. One lady got behind the wheel and the four of us tried to bounce the car over the track. The light from the train was getting bigger and bigger. They all ran back, and I jumped in the car to try one more time. The ladies screamed that I was going to get killed, but I had my door open and ready to run. Suddenly the train stopped about 80 yards down the track. That must have given them some adrenalin, because they came over and picked up the rear of the car and I was good to go. They told me to leave because as soon as a train stops like that, they call the police. I could see red light flashing way down the freeway. I wouldn’t leave without Carlos, even if the cops did get there sooner. I was sitting on the crossing, engine running and passenger door open. Carlos was running super-fast, jumped into the car and I took off before he closed the door. I am speeding down this dirt road having no idea where I am. I didn’t see and red lights behind me so I guess the nice people talked with the police long enough for me to get away. Anyway, I was flying down this dirt road and noticed that there was a T in the road. I hit the brakes, spun around three times and made a right turn without skipping a beat. My heart was beating a million miles an hour, so I pulled over and stopped. I asked Carlos to drive the rest of the way home (he hadn’t been drinking). This could have ended in a very bad way.