Apparently, I’m out of the loop. Back on Friday, I noticed a sign on U.S. Highway 41 (a.k.a. Wabash Avenue) that had significant damage and a number of adjacent tire tracks. It was obvious that someone had done a little unintentional off-roading, though I didn’t think much of it. Coincidentally, Doug, one of my Fraternity Brothers, wasn’t in class that day. I thought it an odd day to skip, for we had an MSYS [Mechanical Systems, somewhat like dynamics] test to take. Jump forward to today (Monday): I was sitting in the Commons, killing some time, when I noticed Doug was doing homework that had been due Friday. I ribbed him for skipping class, a joke that quickly went sour when he indicated that his car was no more. It turns out that the accident happened Thursday night. That’s right: it took me three and a half days to get the skinny.

Doug showed me pictures of the car, the sign, and the skid marks. The story goes that he sweved to avoid a rapidly braking car, had the tail slide out, over-corrected, and left the road, taking out a park direction sign and damaging an age-old Clabber Girl baking powder billboard. The park sign, being made of the green-sign-on-two-metal-poles variety, yielded rather quickly. The Clabber Girl billboard was another story. Built of thick wooden beams and anchored with metal braces to cement feet, the structure stood fast against the oncoming Cougar. The sign lost a foot. The machine lost its form. Has the car breathed its last? Too soon to tell.

Despite today being a national holiday, Rose held classes. I wonder if any of the High School students touring Campus, here because public schools are closed on holodays, noticed. Hmmm….