The Accident

What a weekend! At the outset of this post I do want to say that Darren and I are fine. I also want to say that if you are one of our moms, grandmas, or hate to see car carnage, you might not want to read this post. The story is kind of long and I won't be offended if you skip the details and just look at the pictures.

• Sunday, as we were driving back home, we got in an accident. We left earlier than planned from Darren's parent's house because we woke up to snow, and snow in Wyoming and along I-80 always means slow going. The storm really took hold east of Rawlins. It was heavy and caused the roads to be slushy and slick. Add the wind and visibility was low. Right as we passed the exit for Fort Steele and headed towards the bridge over the exit, we saw the wall of cars. Darren was able to slow down to about 15 to 20 mph and he chose to go to the right side of the road by the guard rail because there was only a pick-up with a flat bed trailer to hit. The airbags deployed and we were just fine.

Our car attached to the trailer we hit.

We were able to get the car loose from the trailer and surprisingly the pick-up drove away with only minor body damage.

• But if poor visibility hid the accident from us, than it would hide it from other drivers, too, who could hit us. After making sure we were both okay, Darren told me to get out, and he hopped out and ran up the large landscape wedge between the exit and the freeway to wave at other drivers. I couldn't open my door because of the guard rail. I was freaked out enough to try to kick the window out, but when that didn't work, my senses returned and I climbed out of Darren's side.

Here is a shot of the guard rail and why I couldn't open my door.

• I'm not sure if you are supposed to leave your vehicle during an accident, but knowing that our little car would not stand up to being hit, by say, a semi, I took my chances. I jumped the guard rail and started heading towards Darren who was still running towards the traffic waving his arms. A truck did come at a fairly high speed and before reaching the cars, his rig and cargo overturned on the other shoulder of the road spraying rocks, snow, and slush everywhere. Hands down it was the scarriest thing I have ever seen. Both Darren and I headed down the hill away from the truck, let me tell you.

• That was the end really, because by then truckers in the wreck CBed the other truckers telling them what was ahead and to slow down. I think the truckers slowed down and blocked cars and such that would have scooted around them and run into us. The truck that overturned had also heard of the wreck, but was too close to slow enough to stop. He had purposely overturned so he wouldn't hit anyone. He probably saved 10 lives.
  
  

The overturned semi and trailer. Yeah, we shook that man's hand and said, 'Thanks!'

• The worst over, we waited for emergency vehicles to arrive. Total there were 21 vehicles involved. We called our parents -- Curt and Cathy were an hour and a half away and were kind enough to drive a car over for us to borrow. I had been holding it together pretty well until I talked to my dad, but then the flood gates opened and I was a mess for about 15 minutes after we hung up. Dads can just do that to daughters, I think. Anyway, we gathered a few belongings from the car and loaded a school bus to be taken to the Rawlins Armory. In my opinion, the bus driver drove a little too fast (passing people willy nilly and continually stepping on the gas) for a bus load of people who had just been in an accident on those same slick roads. Overall, though, I do have to give a shout out to the emergency responders in Rawlins. Apparently it had been a rough winter with a lot of snow and accidents and I'm sure they weren't happy to have to come out on a Sunday afternoon. They were there, though, and we appreciate it.
  
  

The wall of cars. We were all the way over to the right, but you can't see us because of the emergency vehicle.

• At the Armory they had cots, warm things to drink, and phones. Darren gave his story to the police while I called to make a hotel reservation for the night. Neither of us wanted to get back on the road, but it turned out they closed I-80 anyway so we couldn't have left even if we wanted to. We called in sick on Monday.
  
  

Taken from my cot at the Armory. It is kind of dark, but those are other cots on the other side of the room.

• I was telling some ladies the story of our car crash yesterday and it sounded almost like an April Fool's joke because the story actually gets worse! We had Bailey in the car with us and when I got out of the car, she did, too. If she wasn't scared enough by our crash, she got a full dose of horror when the truck overturned. In the haste of getting out we hadn't put a leash on her (and we don't keep her leashed while in the car) and when that truck hit, she bolted. We tracked her in the snow and saw her a few times, but she was too scared to come to anyone. As we were driving away in the bus, my last glimpse of her was a black streak running towards the hills. There was no sign of her the next day when we stopped, but we left a note at the rest area with her information just in case.
  
  

An ending of an era.

• The Mazda is no more. We aren't going to fix it so we handed it over to the tow truck guys before we left on Monday. Darren and I are the type of people who like to own their cars (thus we have old sometimes crappy used vehicles, but that's the trade off) so fortunately we didn't have a loan or anything on the car. Car shopping is in the near future, but in the meantime we are grateful to Curt and Cathy for lending us the Jeep. Thanks again! As for Bailey, honestly our hopes come and go for seeing her again. She was a great dog while we had her and she will always hold a place in our hearts!

Thanks everyone, especially our families, for your thoughts and prayers. We were so blessed, really, that the accident wasn't any worse. Bruises on our bodies and hearts (for our Bailey-Bay) are the worst of it for us!