Growing up in Oklahoma was magical. As a pre-schooler, I have vivid memories of spending weekends and Summers with my grandmother on the ranch — riding in the saddle with ranch hands (AKA: COWBOYS!) rounding up the cattle, reading books with my Grandmother on her BIG screened porch, and counting the lightning bugs as they danced in the dark.
As a young teen approaching driving age, you also learn about those bright yellow yield signs on the Oklahoma highways that say, “DO NOT DRIVE THRU SMOKE!” You see, Oklahoma has a very dry and arid climate and has a lot of tumbleweeds that blow across highways. If two tumbleweeds happen to bump into each other, it could cause a spark, resulting in a fire. Rolling over a burning tumbleweed on a highway could mean a possible explosive disaster for a vehicle driving down the road, especially if one gets caught under your car!
We were taught that if you see smoke on the highway, to SLOW DOWN, PULL OVER to the side of the highway, and TURN AROUND when it was safe to make a U-turn in the highway . . . in other words, DO NOT DRIVE THRU SMOKE, and avoid the rolling tumbleweeds!
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