Death Defied

This next short story has more to do with Shannon’s psychic abilities rather than her medium abilities, but it is still very significant.  Back in the early 2000’s, Shannon and I were traveling back to California from Washington state after spending the holidays there for Christmas and New Year’s with her family.  Instead of driving back down Hwy 5, we decided to drive down Hwy 1 along the coast.  When we pulled into McKinleyville in Northern California; which is just a few miles north of Eureka, we stopped for dinner.  After dinner we stepped outside into the parking lot, and even though it was pouring rain, Shannon suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and said, “We should get a motel for the night.  Something is wrong with the road ahead and it’s too dangerous to travel any more today.”  So I asked her, “Why?  Are you having a premonition or something?”  And she said, “I’m not sure.  But I heard a toad croaking and that’s usually a bad omen.”  I looked at her and sarcastically said, “Really?  A toad croaking?  I heard it too.  But really?”  Now I grew up with an Aunt who was a psychic medium so I’m a believer in that ability, but toads croaking bad omens?  Not so much.  Anyway, instead of continuing home to Fremont, I heed Shannon’s warning and we stay in Eureka at a motel for the night.

The next morning we get up, have breakfast, and hit the road.  All while it is still pouring rain.  As we’re driving along just south of Eureka we come to one of those digital road condition signs that reads, “Road Closed Ahead Indefinitely Due To Avalanche.”  Surprised, I look at Shannon and said, “Toads croaking, huh?”  I knew the highway was open the day before, so I turned the radio to the Emergency Advisory Radio Station that covers that area to get more details, but not until after I turned around to drive back to Hwy 299 that headed to Redding and Hwy 5 because now we had to take the long way home.  According to the Emergency Advisory broadcast, this wasn’t a little mudslide two or three feet deep, this turned out to be a major rock slide that took out a section of the road.  But here’s the really freaky part.  I did some calculations based on the time of the avalanche and compared it to the drive time from the restaurant to the location where the avalanche happened, and based on my findings, we would have been in the general vicinity yesterday when the avalanche occurred if we had kept driving.

So… did Shannon possibly save our lives with a premonition?  Or were we saved by a croaking toad.  I guess we’ll never know.