Why did the turtle cross the road?

I have no idea, but he almost didn't make it.

We drove into town yesterday afternoon for groceries and other errands. As always, we had to shop at two different supermarkets to get everything on my list. Why is that? Will there ever be just one supermarket that has everything you need under one roof?  They keep making these stores larger, and the selections are off the charts, but still... it just seems that one store never carries every item on anyone's grocery list.

Anyway... on the way back home, driving along the main highway, my husband and I saw a turtle trying to cross the road. The highway going from town to country is four lanes, with a turning lane in the center, and a paved shoulder on either side of the highway. That's seven lanes for that turtle to maneuver, taking into consideration that the cars and trucks are driving at 70 mph and the turtle is barely moving at under one-half mph.  When we first saw the turtle, he was in the middle turning lane, with trucks behind us rumbling along at the posted speed limit, if not faster.

My husband pulled off onto the shoulder of the road and started slowing down, then made a U-turn when all the lanes were clear.  Back we went to see if the turtle was still moving or had been smashed into road-kill.  The turtle was in the middle of one of the south-bound lanes, with just his head sticking out of its shell.... most likely looking to see if any more vehicles were headed in his direction.

Another U-turn, and my husband pulled up onto the shoulder of the road near the turtle. Not a truck or car was coming down the south-bound lanes, so my husband got out of the car and walked over to the turtle, who quickly pulled his head back into his shell.  This wasn't exactly a little-bitty turtle... the shell was about the size of a dinner plate, so he was on the hefty side.  My husband picked him up, walked over to the shoulder of the road and put the turtle down into the wildflowers.  Within seconds, that turtle-head poked out of the shell, saw that he was on grass and not pavement, and off he went, in search of new horizons. Or female turtles.

"And how do you know it wasn't a female turtle trying to cross that highway?" my husband wanted to know.

Well, the answer to that is simple:  We don't have a SteinMart in this town, and the only reason a female of any species would be crossing a busy highway in the middle of the day would be to get to an all-day sale on shoes.