Escaped Longhorn on Indiana Interstate Leaves Drivers Doing Double Takes

Here's a real quick story I'll use as a set-up for a wacky occurrence in Indiana this weekend. Wacky, surprising, and maybe a little unsettling.

A decade ago, my family traveled to New Mexico for, perhaps, one of our last visits out there. My late aunt warned us to be careful on the long two-lane road that would take us to her house. It's a narrow state highway and known for elk traffic. She told us not to go the speed limit, just in case. Sure enough, at 12:30 AM, there was an elk. I stopped. It stopped. We stared at each other for a good while before it moved on and out of my way. Thankfully. I can't imagine what hitting a beast like that would have done to my rented Buick.

Runaway Longhorn on an Indiana Roadside

I was reminded of the big fella when I was shown a video of a rather bizarre traffic occurrence this weekend near Monrovia, Indiana, on Interstate 70. I'm not sure what's bigger...that elk or this longhorn that somehow made it out onto the highway.

Maybe you're thinking that a sight like this would be much more common in, say, west Texas, where breeding longhorns for a variety of reasons is big business. But I've been through that part of the country several times, and I've never seen one stray from the herd. Perhaps the electric fencing, commonplace out West, is enough of a deterrent. I can see where it would be.

As for this Hoosier bovine, it is safe, and no one was harmed.