And then there was the time
when I moved from Florida to New Mexico. Driving a couple thousand miles in a pickup truck loaded down with everything the missus and I owned (though I was driving alone) I had a few good scares:

1. Driving through southern Mississippi during a hurricane. 25-30 foot visibility, and I'm driving at 20mph on the interstate. Couldn't see a damn thing in front of me. I had to drive like that for a good 20 miles before I could pull off the road and rest; during which time I realized that the reason I couldn't see too well was that all the weight in the back was throwing off the aim of the headlights. Good thing I packed my toolbox where I could reach it easily.

2. Driving through morning rush hour traffic in Houston, TX and watching an oncoming car hydroplane and slide sideways straight at me. Thankfully there was a concrete divider between us.

3. After driving for over an hour at 90+ mph (speedo on the truck only read to 85), I pulled over in the middle of nowhere to get out and stretch... and see smoke coming from under the truck! As I'm shitting myself, I get down on all fours to look underneath and see where the smoke is coming from. All I can see is transmission fluid dripping onto the exhaust. I'm about 100 miles from anywhere significant, no spare money for repairs, as all my savings had gone into moving, and not within range of any cellular towers anyway. So what do I do while contemplating the situation? Sit down and have a smoke. The truck eventually stopped dripping, and a check of the trans fluid showed that it wasn't low. 10 miles down the road, I check again... still no problems. I stayed WELL under the speed limit for the remainder of the trip.
(WillF http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverfischdotnet/, Fri 23 Feb 2007, 6:07, Reply)