Last night on my way home from work I decided to take a different way home.  I sometimes like to take the less traveled road home for a change in scenery.

       It gets me off the freeway and sometimes I even see some wildgame on my route.  Now remember I work second shift, so my travel time is around midnight.  This means that on the freeway I sometimes see deer a little too close for comfort if you know what I mean.  By taking the back roads home, I sometimes get to see those deer traveling at a much slower speed, so I can slow down and watch them walk away, always taking notice of the spot that I saw them at for future reference. 

     The actual reason I chose to drive the back roads last night was that the weather man said that the meteor showers were going to start that evening.  I thought that since the dirt farm roads didn’t have any street lights on them, I might have a better chance at seeing some shooting stars.  Well I got to see more than that!  I turned one corner and saw an animal jump from one side of the road to the other!  I don’t know what it was, but it was smaller than a deer and jumped like one.  Maybe it was a fox or coyote, I don’t know.  A little further down the road as I was looking to the sky (while driving slowly) looking for shooting stars I noticed something ahead of me in the road.  I swerved to stradle the small creature so I wouldn’t hit it.  The only thing I saw was something black with a long skinny tail about the size of a muskrat.  I stopped in the road and backed up to see if I had hit it.  As I backed up I saw it on the side of the road scampering into the nearby front yard of someone.  All I could see was a tail and black body.  I didn’t see a white stripe, but I didn’t want to find out if it had one or not.  Besides if anyone inside the house was awake, they might have wondered why I was backing up and stopping in front of their house.   The last thing I need is someone pointing a shotgun at me and filling my truck full of lead.

     Finally I arrived safely home and I took a few moments to look to the sky to search for shooting stars.  I didn’t see any, but I did see all of God’s wonder sparkling in the night sky for me to enjoy!  What a perfect view of thousands of stars shinning in the night sky and a perfect way to end my day.  So the next time your out driving and your not in a hurry, take the road less traveled.  You might just get to see some things you would normally miss.