September 11 (The Original One)

On September 11, 2001 I was traveling in the motorhome on Highway 97 in lower Oregon, heading home to Canada. I had spent the night of the 10th in a WalMart and had headed out in the morning. I had the radio tuned to an "Oldies" station from the day before and the volume turned down. The music stopped and voices came on, not loud enough to make out but it sounded like advertising or something. Eventually I hit the "seek" button and another station came on with more talking, still sounding like advertising. I turned it up to hear what was going on and they were in the middle of the live broadcast!

By then about an hour and a half had passed since the first attack. I was on Highway 97 and the first thing I noticed was the lack of traffic. I was almost alone on the road. Suddenly a police car passed me with emergency lights and siren at a very high rate of speed. Shortly after another police car passed moving quickly in the opposite direction. Next a fighter jet crossed the highway flying low.

Now I began to think.... I was alone on the highway in a foreign plated vehicle large enough to carry a lot of damage in a time of extreme nervousness. At that time nobody knew if the danger was all on the east coast or what. As far as anyone knew the whole country could be under attack.

By now I was entering Bend, OR and even though it was way too early for a normal stop, I thought I had better get off the highway. I pulled into the first RV park I found. When I checked in all the staff was huddled around the TV. The woman told me to find a spot and come back in the morning to check in and pay. I found a spot, hooked up power and TV and watched CNN almost steady for the next day and a half.

The scene at Ground Zero tonight: