4.) West Ward Ho!

I turn left onto highway 44.  A small two-laner that takes me west across south Texas.  Every hour or so I have to slow down to pass through a small town, but 5 minutes later I'm through it and back up to cruising speed.

For a while I see nothing.  Just vast open expanses of desert.  I find it odd that theres this much open space, but still, parallel fences run the length of the highway on each side.  Seems to say, 'this is mine! and you can't use it."  I don't like it.  I come out of the thought and see, in my rearview, a plain white suburban coming up on me...FAST.  I maintain my speed and when it catches up to me, it swerves dramatically into the opposing lane, flies around me, and then back into the lane in front of me.  Now I can see that a second, identical suburban is right behind the first and swerves around me along with it.  Strange, I think.  Stranger still is the fact that once they're in front of me, they don't maintain their speed, they slow up so I'm right behind them.  I'm forced to break, and as I do I glance into my rearview again to make sure my slowing down isn't going to result in me being rear ended.  A shiver blasts it's way through my veins when I see, there behind me, a third white suburban  followed by a white unmarked, full size conversion van.

I'm surrounded by these things now.  All exactly alike.  Same make and model, all in pristine condition.  On some deserted desert highway in the middle of nowhere and all I can think is what kind of fast and furious, Vin Diesel bullshit is this!?  Just the second day of my journey and I'm gonna get hijacked by a band of degenerates that drive identical vehicles on some shit highway, in a shit state that I never liked in the first place....typical.

As I'm psyching myself up to make some evasive maneuvers for when shit gets real, the third suburban and the van, both still behind me, shoot off into the opposing lane, jam the accelerator to the floor, whiz passed and then in front of me.  I drop the gas, and roll to a stop as I watch the strange convoy race away to the vanishing point on the distant horizon.  I let my breath out slowly, and try to calm my pounding heart.  'Whoa', I think to myself, looking around seeing nothing and no one......'that was weird'.