The Clearing

Some 4-5 hours into my trip from Penn State to Champaign my check-engine light first came on and then began to flash alarmingly. I pulled over at a gas station, feeling a little anxious because I still had so long to travel, the weather was terrible (there was snow predicted later that day most of which I was able to avoid by taking a detour that took me all the way South to Kentucky), and I didn't have AAA to bail me out if it turned out be something serious. Was so perturbed that I started discussing the problem with the first stranger I met. He turned out to be a truck driver originally from Algeria. When he heard about the source of my anxiety he burst out laughing, revealing really bad decaying teeth, telling me that he had been driving his truck for years with the check-engine light on and I should probably just ignore it too. I drove the rest of the trip considerably less alarmed.