Lessons in non-verbal communication

I dropped a load in New England the other morning and went off to find a place to park. In New England this is not a trivial exercise.

This time it wasn't too bad,though--I knew a place to start. I-95 used to be a toll road in these parts, and some of the old service plazas are still in place.* I'd stopped at one on the way in. So that's where I went to await further orders.

When I got them, there was a slightly embarrassing detail: the shipper was north of me, and I was at the southbound service plaza.

No biggie. You just go south an exit, turn left, go over or under the highway, and turn left again, right?

So I went south an exit, turned left, and--

--saw the sign beside the underpass. The one that had been invisible until I was well into the turn.

The one that said " 13' 5" "

I HAVE mentioned that modern semi's are 13' 6", haven't I?

Mind you, those sign are sometimes wrong. But the only way to know if this particular one was would have been to:

A--live around here, or--
B--drive on under, and listen for a crunch.

I chose "none of the above."

I tried to find a number for the local police department. The automated 411 service offered me five options. One was a police credit union, three were police union locals, and one was for the police department in the next major city.

I looked at the line of traffic behind me and called 911.

The emergency operator was less than pleased, but gave me the number. I was in such a hurry to stop bothering her, I rang off before I realized I hadn't gotten the area code. Rather than do that again, I looked it up online (my phone is smart--that's why it knew I didn't really want the police department).

Two nice officers came out within ten minutes to direct traffic, and help me back up and escape back onto the Interstate. But during that interval I saw many looks. And gestures.

Not all of them were directed at me. people were trying to slip past me the whole time. Past the oncoming traffic. On a two-lane street. Looks were exchanged. Sign language was in use. It was very educational.

I think I prefer books, though.
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*There's one in Maryland I'm especially fond of...