Helter Skelter doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Y’all know the tune, even some o’ you 20-somethings.
I started my day by getting up at 5 AM and taking a shower and slugging around in the kitchen/computer room until about 6 when I took my walk. Everything thawed out yesterday afternoon but the temperatures dipped back into the 20s last night so there was ice here and there. It wasn’t too bad and I figgered the main roads were fine. And they were, mostly.
I took the freeway today but I wanted to stop at the Saline Rd. Meijer on the way to work, so I got off there. Roads were fine. Meijer parking lot was icy but not really very slippery. No big deal. I turned onto Lohr and the Dogha grabbed the road quickly enough that I couldn’t quite tell if it was slippery or not. But I noticed just a little something. It was enough of a little something that when I got to the Lohr/Ellsworth intersection, I approached with great caution. I don’t like that intersection even on a hot, sunny day. Too much development for the surrounding roads and people are impatient and yadda yadda.
I turned left — cautiously — onto Ellsworth. Accelerated and got a little grumpy that the person in front of me wasn’t going the speed limit, which is 45 there, but I don’t remember feeling terribly impatient. Up ahead, a taxi pulled out of a sidestreet on the left. Way ahead of me. But. Suddenly everything went haywire. The vee-hickle ahead of me was going sideways and I *think* a few vee-hickles ahead of it were sliding around too but I’m wasn’t sure because I was hitting the brakes and… Was the Dogha gonna stop in time or not? I wasn’t sure. I had no control. It turned to the left. I was still trying to stop. Turn in the direction of the skid. I was headed into the opposing lane and I saw cars coming the other direction. Then I stopped. And I thought something like, “What about the vee-hickles coming up behind me? Will they stop?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of those vee-hickles careering at top speed onto the field on the right side of the road. Helter skelter. The car ahead of me was sitting sideways in the road. I’m sure the driver was okay but I’ll bet he was shell-shocked. I slowly but deliberately skirted around him on the left and continued on my way. It all happened literally in a very long five seconds or so and eventually I stopped shaking.
What if? I’m not sure the Ninja vee-hickle would’ve stopped in time with its “performance” tires. The Indefatigable? I bet I’d have been doing donuts. Wranglers are great at driving through deep snow. Black ice? Not so much. I don’t know what I’d’ve done if my beloved Dogha had been hit. I love that dirty old vee-hickle, dirty being the operative word, as you can see from the pic, which is not from today but a few weeks ago when it was safely parked behind Jeep and Pan’s house.
Somehow today, I avoided having a second car accident in my life. The first (only?) was when I was 17 and it’s a long story but it involved ice. And I was not at fault.
I love winter but I think I am about done with it for this year.
Good night and drive safely,
KW
February 26th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
…and as you know, my beloved DGSLD took a hit a couple weeks ago… NO ICE, just wet-ish roads…. and an incompetent driver-of-a-Buick-who-couldn’t-hold-his-lane….
Even without all the automotive acrobatics, my adrenaline went into “overdrive”; I did *eventually* make the intended stop at the grocery store on the way home (after the police finished my part in their report and returned my docs)…. and wound up with a package of Oreos that my adrenaline-infused body suddenly was craving (in addition to all the *healthy* stuff I originally intended to get!). Fortunately, I did NOT consume the whole pkg that evening (only about 3-4 cookies…. amazingly enough…. but it took for-freakin’-ever to wind down enough to go to sleep, too – only got maybe 4 hours before getting up for work the next day 🙁 ).
“Fight or Flight” is an amazing reflex.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Knowing how I feel about ICE, you already realize that I got a nervous stomach even reading this!! The total lack of control is what’s frightening. You might stop, but others might slide into you, etc… I’m done with winter too; it snowed here last night, but nothing major. North and south of us got hit though, especially at Younger Daughter’s college up near the Canadian border.
February 26th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
We just don’t get enough snow (or ice) in these parts to make any of us very good at dealing with it. Woke up this morning to between 3″ and 4″ of snow, which I’m sure to you sounds like hardly any. But it’s so damned HILLY around here, and our steep driveway is hell on a clear sunny day. I slid down that thing SIDEWAYS toward the busy road below, not having any idea if I’d stop in time or get T-boned. Thankfully, the tires grabbed at the bottom and the rest of my commute was OK, but it took a l-o-n-g time for my heart to stop pounding. I am SO DONE with winter. (Actually, I was in December!)
February 27th, 2009 at 1:35 am
No word about Chris and Kelly. Are they alright after their accident?
3 days ago, in Kentucky, I killed Old Yeller. Yes, not a deer, a full grown huge beautiful Golden Labrador Retriever walked out in front of my big truck, just stood there staring at me, and in seconds I ran him over with 9 big wheels. Blood and guts all over my truck, all the way through to the back of the trailer… He was dead instantly. I felt it.
I barfed.
Wet road in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, and luckily, no ice anymore I hope…… or dogs……
North Carolina is beautiful as usual.
Actually I am home right now for a change, working on my dungeon.