Look! Yuna Crashed Into A Truck!
If you are watching the news about the Colorado’s snow storm and feel sorry for those who had their cars wrecked, then feel sorry for me ‘cause I am one of them. And this is my dead Honda in the picture.
I was on my way to Colorado Springs this morning and somehow I hit the black ice with 55 mph speed. I pretty much lost control and all the skills I acquired by playing “Need for Speed” and “Grand Turismo” didn’t help in the real world scenario. Although I managed to get over to the left shoulder, it was too narrow for my fat Honda. I was squeezed right between a truck and the guard rail. The car died instantaneously.
The collision stopped the sliding car and the seat belt literately saved me from slamming around. I smelled the gas. My driver side of the door was completely stuck. For a second, those car explosion and burning scenes were flashing through my head. Ironically, other than a slightly twisted neck, I was OK without a single scratch.
After a few minutes of sanity check, I dialed 911. The lady on the phone told me there were too many injured people who needed help so they couldn’t help me. She gave me a towing company number and hung up. “No cop?” I was scratching my head.
The truck driver whose car got all scratched up because of me stepped out and asked me if I were OK. Then he said to me, “I don’t have a driver’s license, so I have to run. “ He took off before I could even take down his license number. Wow, anything could happen in this world.
So, my victim ran away; 911 wouldn’t take my call; my car had no heat and I started to feel cold; I called towing company but couldn’t give them exact location so they told me to call back until I found out where I was (and how in the world was I supposed to do that? Walk on highway in storm??); nobody on the highway was checking on me (they all drove around me; what the hell???!!) and oops, my cell phone only had one bar left. What else could go wrong?
Ok, I admit that at that time, I started to cry like a girl until a highway patrol trooper stopped and knocked on my window. It was probably half an hour after I had the accident and the cars were starting to back up because of me. The cop took me to his car and started to look for a towing truck. I finally felt much better, warmer and safer. Thanks to my climbing buddy too who stayed on the phone with me for a while to offer a lot of options and advices.
I stayed with Officer Ernie (I only got his first name) for nearly two hours. He was on the radio, cell and computer to coordinate a towing truck but accidents happened everywhere this morning. The traffic was backed up miles in front us and my dead Honda was pretty much blocking half of the left lane. We simply couldn’t get one to come in until another trooper showed up to help to redirect the traffic.
On my way back to Denver, I counted 5 accidents with one truck completely flipped over. The tow truck driver told me I was one of the very few passengers he had in the last 3 days ‘cause “everybody ended up in the hospital”, he said. I could feel a chill went down my spine. Ok, buddy, you are not helping!
Ironically, the Honda body shop he took me to is right next to my usual climbing gym. After getting all the nasty paperwork done, I had about 2 hours before Hertz rental to deliver a car for me. Hmm… rather than sitting here waiting, I could go for a climb. So I did and I got my ass kicked badly. I, a solid 5.10 climber fell on a 5.8 route. Lesson learned? Never engage in extreme sports after a car crash. Durh.. what the hell was I thinking..
Well, I guess after a long nasty scary day, it wasn’t too bad after all because things could be a whole lot worse. At least I got to:
- sit in a cop’s car for the very first time and chat with a nice cop. Oh, I found out a supervisor like Officer Ernie can actually make $80,000.
- I didn’t get a ticket for reckless driving and my victim ran away so I didn’t have to pay for his damage.
- I got a snow day off!
- And most importantly, I am alive and all of my body parts are still at where they are supposed to be.
Tonight, I am sitting in my Denver apartment to chill out. Tomorrow morning, I am going to give the nasty highway another shot. This time, I am going to go 40 miles an hour if the snow condition isn’t improving. So wish me luck!!
Ron said,
October 11, 2005 @ 8:47 am
Glad to hear you came out OK. Abandoned on the side of the road in a snow storm might have made me cry too.
Kris said,
October 11, 2005 @ 10:48 am
Whew. I’m so happy to hear that you’re alive and well.
Climbing after a car accident? Oh come on, we all know what a hardcore climber you are, but you don’t have to be -that- crazy. Please be safe, I’ll need a reliable climbing partner once I get up there.
Yuna said,
October 11, 2005 @ 5:16 pm
Thanks guys..
I made in Ok today… I am glad I didn’t drive last night.. could be nasty..
I thought climbing could be a good relaxing way to shake off the stress.. I guess climbing isn’t exactly in the same category with running, drinking and watching TV when it comes to stress relief…
mountiancurmudgeon said,
October 12, 2005 @ 12:09 pm
Glad you’re okay! Weird that there’d be someone driving without insurance in Colorado??!! It’s like a hobby out here!
Yeah, climbing is hard to do when you have a source of acute stress dividing your focus…Hard to focus when you just smashed up your car.
Yuna said,
October 12, 2005 @ 12:38 pm
Not just the insurance.. the guy didn’t have driver’s license! And he was driving a service truck around … People are nuts these days.. I was honest and told the officer.. He just laughed..
Yuna said,
October 12, 2005 @ 12:39 pm
Oh. also.. I had my license up there in the picture for the last two days and got my friend’s friendly warnings about identity theft.. So to the fellow bloggers, be careful of what you publish… and hide your personal info..
Nosaj said,
October 12, 2005 @ 2:20 pm
Yuna, now that we all know you are ok, and I heard your voice today on the phone - it’s officially time to start making jokes about this.
Remember our Richmond Yuna catch-phrase for you? ‘Donkey on the edge’???
Looks like the ‘donkey’ in you finally fell over the edge.
Remember our driving trip in the early part of the year when we took a little road trip and you showed me the mountains? I still bite my nails after driving with you!!!
Ok, enough poking fun. You’re a fine driver - seriously. You were in terrible weather conditions - and fortunately there was a guard rail!
Stay safe out there Yuna!
Yuna said,
October 12, 2005 @ 2:27 pm
I didn’t drive at all last winter… I lived in downtown and I had my snowboarding buddy to take the wheel whenever we headed over to the mountains… Guess I will have to be independent this year and learn to drive in snow…
I think the donkey inside of me is a lot calmer now comparing with 2 years ago.. ;-D
Blogfabulous » A New Job A New Life said,
January 29, 2006 @ 11:27 pm
[…] agement, my current engagement and my permanent home. I don’t even have a car after I wrecked my Honda last year on the way to a client site. It’s about time to fix my big mess!! I can […]
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