A veteran Florida trucker had two surprises Wednesday, Feb. 27.
The first came as a large bird slammed into the windshield of Nick Gerken’s tractor-trailer as he was southbound on Interstate 75 in Sarasota County on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The second came when Gerken returned to D-Trans in Venice where he works and discovered that the wild turkey that had smashed his windshield had landed in his sleeper and was somehow still alive. The bird was in the storage area under the bunk.
A coworker removed the bird and set it free.
The 66-year-old Gerken has been driving for 20 years and was uninjured in the collision.