As Peter Eargle drove home from work two weeks ago, he saw something strange on Interstate 20.

A rather large tortoise was in the middle of the road, narrowly dodging two 18-wheelers and a few other vehicles.

He pulled to the side of the interstate, got out of his car and removed the tortoise from traffic.

“I took it to the treeline but it kept returning to the interstate,” Eargle said. “After a few times, I realized it would get hit if I left it. I couldn’t believe the thing was so big, and I knew it wasn’t native to this area.”

While Eargle was driving home with the giant tortoise buckled safely in his car, Jean Blakeney was frantically searching all over Edwards for her beloved Tilly, an African Spurred tortoise she’s owned for more than 15 years.

“We looked everywhere,” Blakeney said. “We had at least a dozen people out looking. I was just devastated that we couldn’t find her anywhere.”

After two weeks of relentless, yet unsuccessful, searching that included the help of a search and rescue team from Pearl, Blakeney came home to a message on her answering machine saying Tilly might have been found. When Eargle text messaged her a picture of the tortoise, Blakeney said her relief was indescribable.

“We weren’t giving up,” Blakeney said. “It scared me to death having her out there, and I started shaking when I heard she might have been found.”

Blakeney said Tilly weighs about 30 pounds and has a great personality. The tortoise was living in an enclosure in Blakeney’s backyard when a storm hit, causing a tree to fall and destroy her pen. She said Tilly took that opportunity to wander away and made it more than three miles down I-20 before Eargle picked her up.

“She’s like a dog,” Blakeney said. “She comes out when I call her, and she’s even great with kids. She’s just been around forever and she’s a part of the family.”

Blakeney added that Tilly has been lost before, but never for this long.

“One time a friend was watching her and she wandered off while my friend wasn’t looking. I don’t think she realized Tilly could get away so quickly,” Blakeney said. “She was gone for a few days and one afternoon when I called for her she just came running over the hill back to me.”

Eargle said though it was a strange situation, he really enjoyed his time with Tilly.

“I became fond of the very large tortoise,” Eargle said with a laugh. “She’s very lucky. She came within inches of getting hit, and it was just a pretty crazy situation, something you don’t usually have happen driving down I-20.”