Jeff Chestnut is a volunteer radio broadcaster at Amherst Island Radio CJAI 101.3 FM. He lives in Napanee with his wife.
My life had permanently changed. Newly graduated, freshly married and heading to Thunder Bay. My bride and I had been accepted at Lakehead University. I’d finally caught up on my schooling and was joining my partner in higher education.
The tour to Thunder Bay was a relaxing departure from the past few hectic months. Unfortunately, our time budget was consumed by stopping to take pictures at each of the waterfalls along the Trans-Canada highway, skirting the shoreline of Lake Superior.
As we oriented the new city, we began to understand the strange layout of Thunder Bay. We acquired an apartment and returned south to retrieve our belongings.
My new bride had driven my (now ours) silver Mustang most of the way to Thunder Bay. My way of showing how much I cared. Now heading home, I took the wheel as we had serious driving to do. “It’s getting dark, I’m nervous about moose,” I pointed out, repeating what the scoutmaster used to say each time we entered Algonquin Park on camping trips.
‘What would we do if a moose jumped out?” my bride asked with a nervous tone, as we pressed on into the dusk of evening.
I chuckled. “I don’t believe they actually jump out; it’s how big they are.”
Listening loudly to The Black Crowes, “Hard to Handle, I rolled down the window, allowing a cool breeze to keep me alert as night took over. Cruising through a large bend of the road, I piloted straight into a bull moose’s hind end.
I slammed the brakes with both feet and gripped the steering wheel, white knuckled. The mustang met the moose, grazing the back legs and forcing it to nearly sit on the hood of the car with nothing for us to view but his supersized scrotum. The moose charged forward and then turned to face us, square with the high beams. Little did I know that this challenged the bull moose. As the antlers were lowered, lucky for us, a transport truck coming in the opposite direction scared the moose into the bush.
After that fright, the hands wouldn’t stop shaking. No more driving, no hotels for miles. Parking the car just off the road, we pushed our seats back and tried to sleep.
I couldn’t blame the moose; my wife had taken too long driving up to Thunder Bay.
Jeff Chestnut