One of "THOSE" Moments

I'm not sure if all my friends have just become addicted to stupid TV shows, like "world's scariest hernias", or if they have some sort of morbid fascination with close calls. In either case, I've had a lot of requests to post the pictures of my recent car accident. Not that I enjoy reminiscing about this one, but here it is for the record.

That's My Story, and I'm Sticking With It!

Want my opinion on what happened? Here's where you get it. I use the word opinion, because it's hard to get an objective view point on an event that lasts a total of 10 seconds and you're nearly blinded during the process.

Tamika and I were driving up to SLO on the 101, in the light (on and off) drizel. I had the Mustang on cruise control, in the fast lane. There were no other cars that could hold their speed going up that hill, so I didn't think anything of staying in the fast lane, going as slow as I was.

As we crested the top of the grade, there was this sudden downpour of rain that turned the road to a freakin' river. I, naturally, tried to brake, but I think I was already starting to move sideways at that point. We spun around, tail end first, hit the chain link fence in the center median separating us from oncoming traffic, and rolled over. From the pictures below, you can see how we rolled over on Tamika's corner.

Luckily, we landed back on our wheels, and the chain link fence, which was now wrapped around the car keeping us in, kept us from moving too far into the oncoming, southbound, traffic lanes.

Both side windows blew out, giving us a LOT of cuts and scrapes. Neither airbag went off, as we never had a frontal impact, and a lot of our stuff went flying everywhere.

Although there were about ten people who were there within minutes to help, I think the scariest time was waiting for the Ambulance to arrive. Tamika was bleeding, and the rain was coming down on her. I was scared.

I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that I got my baby hurt.

Anyway, in the end, everything was okay. We both checked into the Emergency room at Santa Ynez Hospital and we're doing much better now. Tamika was taken there by the ambulance and had to have stitches (not to mention the uncomfortable hour of x-rays while strapped to that stupid board).

In conclusion, my days of sportscars and convertibles are over until I hit my mid-life crisis!

The Usual Suspects

I've been asked some questions, which seem logical but are annoyingly stupid, over this whole thing. I don't blame those who've asked me. But that still doesn't mean the answers aren't kind of obvious. Here are a few of my favorites.

"Whose Fault was it?"

Umm...well, unless you're ready to blame in on the rain (long live millie-vanillie), it's obviously MY fault. Granted there were some freak weather conditions involved, but when it comes down to it, there is no one else to blame. As my insurance adjuster said "California doesn't have a law allowing us to blame God". I got a chuckle out of that one, eventhough she was one of the people who asked me this question.

"Were you going too fast?"

Again, looking at the pictures, the answer has to be uhhhhh YES! Not that I thought I was going too fast. In one of my rare moments, I actually had my cruise control set and going about 65mph. As we came over the hill, the speed started to pick up, as the cruise control doesn't compensate immediately. I was technically already braking when this whole thing happened, bringing the cruise control back down to 65.

So, now that I hope I've explained it enough to avoid another 100 retellings of the story, here are the pictures =) I took these at the autoshop where the car was towed to, about 5 days after the accident. Last I heard, they never got my front bumper, including my front license plate. It may still be up there, in the median, on top of the grade.