Playing with Shadows

Debbie and I are getting ready to embark upon another great adventure: planning the details, packing suitcases, packing the car, loading the kayak.  We've decided to give our orange kayak to the kids in Maine instead of sell it.  So, we've purchased a special rack for the Prius.  We installed the rails last week and drove the car for a week to make sure they wouldn't fall off.  Then we installed the kayak "J" rack to the rails and I drove the car to school with it empty.  Good news, it didn't fall off.  Yesterday I loaded the kayak onto the car taking extra precaution to get it strapped on tightly. I drove around town, and good news, it didn't fall off.  So I decided to test it out on I-70 this morning.  I was a little nervous about how it would do at 80 mph. So nervous that I had to stop at McDonalds and recheck the straps before I even left town.

While merging onto K10 (South Lawrence Trafficway) I noticed the shadow of my car carrying the kayak.  The shadow showed everything in perfect alignment. Hooray!  I continued on through the toll booth and around the curve to merge onto I-70.  There it was again, my shadow. I watched my shadow while rounding the curve and merging onto West bound I-70. Oh crap, what's happening....As I rounded the curve the shadow changed, the entire front of the kayak appeared to be lifting off of the car.  Oh, BEEP this can't really be happening.  As I stared at the shadow trying to decide what to do the car behind me passed me and the driver stared at me the entire time.  At that point I knew I was in trouble.  Why else would he stare at me.  I quickly pulled off of the highway, and jumped out of the car ready to challenge the kayak. But the kayak was safe and secure within the rack. I tried pushing it up in front, but it wouldn't budge.  I attempted to tighten the straps, but they wouldn't budge either.  Perplexed  I got back into the car and got back onto the highway.  The illusive shadow continued to play with my mind and freak me out the entire way to school.  Thankfully I made it to school and home with no problems. Hopefully I'll survive the 2000 mile trip to Maine without the shadows causing me to loose my mind.