On our way to Napa last week, Krista and I were in a freak accident with an 18” iron pipe. We were driving on the freeway going about 70mph when I saw a slightly curved pipe in the road. Before I could do anything, the truck in front of us ran over the pipe which then flew into my car. It hit the passenger side of the hood first then flew into the right upper corner of the windshield and roof. The sound was deafening. I immediately pulled off to the shoulder, barely able to see out of the windshield and no longer able to see out of the rear-view mirror as the roof had slightly collapsed from the impact. By the grace of God, Krista was not hurt but she was covered from head to toe in glass. Thankfully, she was wearing sunglasses which protected her eyes. She was also remarkably calm. Being the in-control woman that I am, I immediately called Rocket Man and started crying. :-P Being the sweet man that he is, he was in his car coming to us within seconds. (we were an hour from home at that point in the trip) We decided to get the car off the freeway so we limped it to the off-ramp and found a gas station and parked it. Krista had to hold the windshield up as it was collapsing in on her.
AAA got a tow-truck out to us in minutes and Rocket Man met us at the auto body shop we’d been towed to. My poor little car took a beating but every time I looked at it, I was so grateful it was a car made of metal and not my dear friend.
And never ones to let anything keep us from having fun, we asked Rocket Man to take us to Napa and he was quite accommodating. So in spite of a rough start, our day turned out wonderful!
My car will be in the shop for at least another week. I might possibly hug it when I get it home. I love my car. :-D
We had our camera with us so we took a few pictures. Take a look-see...
Posted by PamCHBF at October 27, 2005 07:55 PM | TrackBackI am so glad neither of you were hurt. Your Rocketman is a great guy!!
Posted by: oddybobo at October 28, 2005 05:39 AMOh my gosh Pam!! That is one of my nightmares!! I'm so glad you are both okay! Your car sure took a beating.
Posted by: jona at October 28, 2005 08:56 AMYeesh! It's for just such reasons that I'm lobbying for strict anti-pipe legislation.
Glad everybody was okay.
Except the car, of course. But at least the only pain there is the bill at the end of the car surgery.
Posted by: Jim at November 1, 2005 05:26 AMthanks for all your nice thoughts, everyone. My car is still in "surgery"--I miss her SO much! I'm driving the "covered wagon" (aka mini-van) again and I HATE THAT THING!
Posted by: Pam at November 2, 2005 05:23 PMIsn't safety glass a wonderful thing? And invented entirely by accident but required on all vehicles.
A glassmaker had laid a hot plate of glass down, laid a piece of plastic so it would get dust while he went on his lunch break, decided to make another plate, forgot he had laid the plastic down, laid the second piece, and then knocked it off of his cooling stand. It broke but didn't shatter, and safety glass was born.
Posted by: Jeff at November 13, 2005 08:35 AM