Yesterday morning a gasoline tanker exloded on the interstate in Brimingham, Alabama at the junction of I 65 and I 59. When I went by, they were still trying to clean up the mess. I saw that there was nothing at all left of the tanker except the frame which was charred and twisted.
The overpass under which the tanker exploded was badly burned and closed down. It will likely have to be torn down and rebuilt. Fortunately, the driver of the tanker managed to escape the wreck just prior to the explosion which rocked the area.
While I did not witness the actual crash and explosion, I did get to speak with a couple of people who were witness to it. Seems that some person driving a car, in an obvious hurry to get to work, cut off the tanker, causing him to lose control as he swerved to avoid colliiding with this dimwit. Several million dollars worth of damage caused in the name of getting to work five seconds faster.
On a lighter note, I arrived at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida around 5 pm yesterday. While it was too late for them to unload the fire truck then, they offered me some fine Navy hospitality. The firemen cooked me dinner, allowed me to watch some television with them, and then set me up with a sleeping room for the night. The dinner was excellent and the accommodations were more than comfortable. My hat's off to those fine Navy firemen.