The Sunshine Skyway Bridge.


 The Sunshine Skyway, Florida. 

I crossed this bridge driving a large truck about once a week for 30 years. I once had a truck break down at the top. The wrecker had to leave from St. Petersburg, drive south across the bridge, turn around and cross the bridge going north (picking my truck up on the way).

We moved to Florida in 1982, two years before a freighter hit the old bridge in a bad fog, killing 35 people.  The fog was so bad no one recognized the bridge had collapsed and cars and buses kept driving into the bay.

The old bridge stood for years with one side gone. Mangled steel hanging....a reminder of the Greyhound bus that went over the side. My Mom always closed her eyes for the entire trip across. There is a telephone at the top for suicide jumpers to make one last call. I talked a friend down at the top one night about 2am. Funny, he had a gun and was going to shoot himself before jumping? I told him to give me the gun...the fall alone was sufficient.



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