Paynes Prairie was a Pain

Maybe you heard about it on the news — that big accident on the Florida interstate. Ten people were killed, eighteen injured when a fire in Paynes Prairie caused heavy smoke and fog conditions on I75 south of  Gainesville. The pileups happened on both sides of the highway and the smoke and fog were so thick when rescuers first arrived, the only way they could locate victims was by following the sound of their screams and moans from the wreckage, which was strewn for nearly a mile.

Paynes Prairie...Beth was telling me all about it just a few weeks ago as we drove through it on the way to Disney. Sixteen thousand acres of wet prairie, open water and marsh in the basin surrounded by six thousand acres of uplands including pine forests, fields, ponds and scrubs. The Paynes Prairie Basin was formed when limestone was washed away which resulted in the "resting of the land" — a sink hole! A six thousand acre sink hole! Can you imagine? Of course it's all grown over and the interstate goes right through the middle...which brings us back to this past weekend.


Jason, Beth and the boys went to Disney again for the day. Florida residents get really good deals on annual passes and since they are about two hours away, they try to go as often as possible. Besides, Jonathan had grown just enough to be able to go on Space Mountain for the first time so of course they HAD to go. Who knows why we make certain decisions, certain choices each day as we do. That day at Disney...was it an extra turn on Space Mountain?  Or another bottle of water causing them to make an extra rest stop on the way home?  Or why did the boys stay awake so late, allowing them to go on those few extra rides?

Whatever it was, they left Disney later than they planned, later than they had ever stayed, and headed back home to Gainesville on I75. As they approached Paynes Prairie, however, they saw the smoke and the fog and were diverted to another route. It wasn't until the next day that they found out about the accident. The accident that, had they left when they had intended, they surely would have been a part of. A close call?  Hardly. Divine intervention? You be the judge.