Dream about big water and being lost

Every now and then I get a whopper of a dream. Yesterday was one of those times.

In the dream, I was visiting my sister in the Washington D.C area, (we had recently done the tourist thing there in real life), and I took the wrong metro, ending up at the end of the line. Ok, no problem, I thought, I'll just get the return train and get it right when I get back. Just then I heard the announcer say the last train of the day was leaving. I rushed to the platform in time to see two trains pulling away.

I started walking back, but found myself in my pickup driving in an unfamiliar area. The road in front of me came to an intersection, the light was green so I went straight, seeing that the road was going to drop off a steep hill, I slowed down as I crossed the intersection, but as I started the decline, I discovered that the road ended, there was a yellow-plastic-chain crossing the end of the road. After the yellow-plastic-chain thingy, there was just grass, a steep, STEEP slope ending in the river. My truck broke the yellow-plastic-chain thingy and the tires found wet, soggy, grassy ground. I hit the brakes hard, shouting (out loud?) "Stop, STOP" to my truck.

To my left were two people sitting at a picnic bench, eating and watching me slide down the hill. I turned to the left, hoping to stop the awful slide I was in but the truck just slid sideways down into the river, which turned out to be deep enough to swallow up my truck immediately. I had the sense to put my window down and unbuckle my seat belt as the truck sank, and I swam out.

Then I found myself on a very narrow sidewalk high above the river, the river below swollen and angry, rushing by, taunting me. There were two more people sitting on a park bench, eating sandwiches and watching the river. I went to them on this narrow sidewalk and clutched onto the one wearing a polka-dot 50's style dress. I was screaming in pure panic by this time.

They assured me that 'just around the corner you will be away from the river, all will be well by then'. I moved on, around the corner, only to find myself high, HIGH above the city street below, on an even narrower sidewalk. I was in a panic like I'd never experienced, just so sure I would fall to my death at any moment, and the people were so calm, like a sidewalk 50 feet above a raging river with no rails was the norm.

Around the corner I encountered two more women, sitting on a park bench, eating sandwiches and acting like it was so normal to have a sidewalk so skinny that a person had to sidle sideways clutching to old brick buildings.... It was all so weird. I was screaming in raw panic again, they were just munching sandwiches........

Just then my phone rang and saved me from any more skinny-high-in-the-air-open sidewalks.

Guess that's what I get for eating a meatball sub and taking a nap on my back!