First off, I am NOT the type of person to freak out over anything. I have been known to drive a Sheriff’s truck pulling a boat at high speed with lights and sirens wailing and be more calm than sitting at my desk. I’m also not the type of person who forwards scary or warning type emails because most of them are false according to snopes.com. I only post this because it is a first hand experience.
Now that’s out of the way, here’s what happened tonight:
I left the CDO (Civil Defense Office) and was headed home going up Highway 51. Stopped at the light at Church Road in the right lane. I took off as normal and a Chrysler 300 that was in the left lane took off quick like he wanted to race. It was raining and I’m driving a big honkin truck so I just kept on going at a normal rate. Eventually I passed them in the right lane as they were slowed up by a slower truck. Nothing out of the ordinary here at all. After they goosed it from the light they settled down and were driving normally. I wasn’t paying any attention to them at this point.
Once I got past the truck that slowed them down, I moved to the left lane to take the left on Nail Road. When I glanced in the mirror at the traffic behind me as I was slowing down for the turn I see the 300 was now in the right hand lane I was previously in and they quickly turned their turn signal on, braked to get behind the slow truck and get in the turning lane behind me at the last second.
On Nail Road they kept their distance. By the time I got to Horn Lake Road to take a right they were still a fair distance behind me. I made the turn and a few cars got in between them and me. I increased the gap enough that once I got close to Goodman Road, there is a hill you go over and I would be hidden from their view after I crested it. Once over the hill, I pulled into the On The Go gas station on the corner to get a Mountain Dew. I pulled in on the far side of a big SUV to keep the truck out of view – but it’s a big truck. My cell phone battery is completely dead. No way to call for help if I needed it. Had the SAR radio though.
I open the door to get out and the Chrysler 300 is parked one space over from my driver’s door. Four white kids – late teens to early 20s. As soon as I stepped out of the truck I looked right at them and all four looked right at me and my truck. I paused, and then went inside. I got my Mountain Dew and when I got to the counter one of the kids from the car was at the counter directly in front of me. He bought a pack of cigarettes. It didn’t click until he left (the clerk distracted me by asking about a missing person), but he was wearing a blue hoodie and in the right front pocket of the hoodie there were two packs of cigarettes – one open and one sealed. Why buy a single pack when you’ve already got at least one full pack and a partial? Why did they choose to follow the same weird route I took? Why did they happen to stop at the same store I did? Why did they change to the turning lane at the last moment to get behind me?
If I had been in plainclothes I would either be without a truck or worse (maybe.) I can tell you without a doubt I was being followed.
I think the combat boots, camo BDUs and the bright orange shirt with a SHERIFF’s badge on the front they saw when I stepped out of the truck changed their minds.
My gun is staying in my truck from now on.
