Panther Traffic

Hi,
I'm still in Marco Island, and it's still cold. Nothing new there.
This morning at 4am my dad and I were awake and leaving to go to the airport. He's going back to Toronto for 11 days while I stay here and look after my mom. The airport run at 4am looked like this:

I was able to talk him out of schlepping a glass bottle of tequila home in his carry-on bag. First, he would have to check the bag with alcohol and a glass bottle was never going to make it back to Toronto alive going through baggage handling facilities. Score one for Marilyn.

On the way to the airport we decide to stop at the 24 hour Walmart and pick up some juice and bananas for me to take back to my mother. I was pretty impressed that there is a 24 hour Walmart open in the middle of nowhere on US41... and we weren't the only shoppers at 4:30am. I certainly don't have a 24 hour anything where we live and we're not in the middle of mangroves with deserted highways. What does Walmart know that I don't? I guess if you build it, they will comes proves true in this case.

My favorite part of this strip of highway is the signage. "Panther Traffic" in a big yellow sign with a silhouette of a panther slinking along. There are 4 of these signs along a 10 mile stretch on both sides of the highway. In the almost 30 years I have been coming to Marco Island and travelling this road, I have yet to see one panther, let alone any panther traffic. Brush fires, stuck semi trucks, osprey nests and lots of giant blue herons are around, but never panther traffic. I would love to see a pride of panthers cross the road (this comment needs a punch line but I'm too tired to think of one right now, it's 7:20am). I bet the highway patrol guys have to replace the 'panther traffic' sign on a regular basis. If I was into stealing signage, this would be one I'd work at getting. Maybe it appeals to me because you never would see a sign like that in Toronto, other than in the zoo, and I don't think the Toronto Zoo even has enough panthers to create 'traffic'.

How many panthers do you need to qualify as 'traffic'? Is it like having more than 2 cars at a traffic light in Muncie, Indiana where they consider that a 'traffic jam'? Or are we talking a couple of gross (a gross = 144 for the measurement impaired)? In Yardley we have 'duck & geese traffic'. That can back up the main street for over a half hour when they decide to waddle across from Lake Afton to the church lawn to get some fresh grass. No signage warns you of that pending traffic disaster. Maybe 'Goose Traffic' isn't as terrifying sounding. One day I'm hoping to be driving Route US41 and get stopped by panther traffic. I'll make sure to take pictures.

xox
m