Friday, September 02, 2005

Go speed racer… go speed racer…go, speed racer go…

I thought we might be the slowest drivers on the Autobahn. Well, apparently, there is someone else a bit slower than us. It seems that an 80-year nursing home resident decided he wanted to go shopping at a local area up the road from his residence. Gramps did not have a car, but he did have wheels of a sort…his motorized wheelchair.

As necessity is the mother of invention, Gramps struck out in his wheelchair for a little road trip. I like his thinking, but the execution was a little faulty. Top speed on the wheelchair is only about 10 kilometers per hour (6 mph).

Picture it this way: You are a trucker rolling down the highway. As you clear the hill, what do you see up ahead of you on the Autobahn but Grandpa “put-putting” in his wheelchair? Several passing truckers notified police and one quick-thinking driver even positioned his rig behind the man, thereby, protecting him from the speed demons that normally travel down Germany's largely speed-limit-free expressways.

Police were on hand to collect the man after he made a slow exit off the freeway and returned Gramps to his home, via a more conventional mode of transportation….an automobile.

Now, what I what I want to know is this: did Gramps ever get his shopping completed?

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