On the Road

I have the most beautiful commute in the world. Every morning I ride my bicycle in the shade of the palm trees on a road along the sandy beach of the Pacific Ocean. It is about a 20 minute bike ride.

Yesterday morning as I rode in to work, I was repeatedly passed by the two ambulances (actually just vans with sirens and flashers) going back and forth down the road with their sirens blaring. There were also a bunch of pick-up trucks that kept passing me with people on stretchers in the back.

I assumed that there must have been a horrible accident since so many people were being brought to the hospital. I often see pickup trucks with dozens of people riding in the back and I was having visions of two such trucks hitting head-on.

In Pohnpei they have a helmet law for motorcycle riders, but no limit to the number of people you can legally transport in the back of your pickup truck without any protection. I don't know if the same holds true here in Pohnpei.

Yesterday evening I went out on the Sunset Cruise in Lelu Harbor and mentioned the emergency vehicles to another boat passenger. He informed me that the airport was doing a drill and those "victims" I saw were just pretending to be injured in an airline crash.

It's comforting to know that if Continental Airlines crashes in Kosrae, the passengers will have the opportunity to wait for a ride to the hospital in the back of a van or pickup truck.