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December 23, 2005
First Let Me Say That We Are Fine
After that, I can say, unequivocally, that the truck, it is not.
(If you look closely, you will see that it is now a Nissan ITAN. )
Here's a close-up of the main damage:
And what a story we have to tell.
5:20-ish am. We were on our way to Spokane to catch a plane. (It left 45 minutes ago. We are obviously not on it.) We hit some black ice coming around a curve and though Dave strove valiantly, we ended up in a 5' ditch. As in five feet deep. And we hit the side of that ditch with a bang!
I don't remember much about parts between the starting to skid and the stopping. I remember whirling around like on a carnival ride. I remember the impact. Afterwards, I had to think for a minute about whether I was upside down. Partly because my arms were over my head. And see, this is the thing. I have no idea why I was holding my arms up in the air or how they got there. I wasn't upside down, but now I understand how people caught in avalanches get confused.
We scrambled out through the passenger door (the truck was at about 35 degrees with the driver-side door resting against the hill) and Dave was on the phone with AAA about a tow when another car came around that same corner, hit the ice and rolled into the same ditch about 50 feet away from us where it landed upside down. Two people scrambled out and then began calling names. There were two others in the car who weren't answering. They were fine, though. As they were getting out of the car, I called 911.
And while I was on the phone with 911, another car came around that curve, skidded and barely held it together. They were fine. They were able to drive away after making sure we were all okay (astonishingly, we all were, Dave and me and the four people from the rollover).
Less than 10 minutes after the third car, a semi came around the corner. We watched the second trailer start to go. We watched the driver fighting to maintain control. We sprinted up a serious hill (on the other side of the 5' ditch) to get out of the way. And we watched a wreck not happen. That's probably the wildest part of the whole story. How that driver managed to control his truck I don't know, but he did. And thank God, because that wreck would have been nasty.
By the way, going up that hill, I went straight into Tiger. (Some of you may get that reference) You put me in the cold and the mud and the dark and have my life be potentially at risk, and that instinct kicks in. It's probably why I was able to be so calm with the 911 dispatcher.
After sitting in the ambulance (I'm fine; it was cold out and they wanted to take my blood pressure),waiting in the dark for the police officer and the various towtrucks, Dave started taking pictures with his camera phone. Which is when I realized, DUH, I have my camera in the truck.
See? Dave's okay. He's talking to his insurance agent. (This, by the way, is the only picture I took. All the rest are by Dave.) The ditch to his left? That's the 5' ditch. You can see where the truck was pulled out of it. The hill on the other side of the ditch? That's the hill we all sprinted up to avoid the semi wreck that didn't happen.
And see? I'm okay too.
(Over my left shoulder, you can see the bitch curve.)
Two Thumbs Up! Not Going on That Ride Again!
Lovely, lovely Danger Rankin and her David took our early morning call and drove all the way to Colfax to get us. (For those of you who know the area, we were about 500 yards from the llama farm.) The first thing she did was hug me. I am so blessed to have such generous people in my life. And also to be okay and to have a husband who is also okay (except for his left elbow which he smacked pretty hard).
I also feel extremely fortunate in being able to help someone else. Those four kids, all under 20, in the car that rolled over, had no cell phone, and the girl was pregnant. Their car was barely visible from the road. Who knows what would have happened to them if we hadn't already been there. I think that's why we were there, by the way. To help them out of a really tight spot.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate that holiday and Love, Life, Peace and Happiness to all.
Posted by sally at December 23, 2005 09:10 AM
©2006 - All content copyright Sally Eames-Harlan unless otherwise noted