October 2nd 1999 - On route to find the narrows of lower Fish Creek.
On probably the nicest Saturday of the year things got ugly. I bet the
Apaches never had to worry about a teenager flying at about twice the speed
limit coming around the corner. In all fairness he was very apologetic and
repeatedly expressed how sorry he was. I
get a laugh when I think back to what he said. "I'm surprised you
didn't jump out of your car and beat the sh*! outta me!" At the time
I was in disbelieve I was alive yet alone in pretty good shape. If I
hadn't been wearing a seatbelt it would have been terrible. Credit to my
sister and the state of Arizona for getting me to wear that seatbelt. I
did fracture a rib which hurt like a mother for over a month. Most of all
it made it impossible to lye down and sleep. I am very grateful.
Obviously I urge all to take it easy on this old road.
The airbag really did it's job. I saw the truck coming and within a flash
it was all over. The air bag was in front of me as I opened my eyes to the
terrible (and now I'm told cancer causing) smell of the air bag gas. There
was what seemed like confetti floating around to, it was kind of like the forth
of July. In this case I felt like I was the firecracker. With the
air bag in front of me I was nervous to look under and see what happen to my
left leg. Thankfully everything was okay. I crawled over and out the
passenger side. Got out of the car which was now in the ditch. I did
a little jump just to make sure the body was all in tact. Something
happened to my hearing, then went away after about five minutes. It wasn't
totally gone but everything sounded hollow. Still in disbelief I decided
to look for my cell phone. The metal and plastic cradle used to hold the
phone was blown to pieces. I was sure the phone was too. I found it
on the floor. Other than the battery popping off it survived! Still
in use I can honestly recommend the Nokia 6160. It even slid half way down
Camelback once. Looking at the picture it doesn't appear to be to
bad. If you saw how far the car was pounded away from the point of impact
you would understand. For instance looking at the front wheel there it
appears to be just pushed back. In reality the inside shattered, of course
it is cast aluminum as opposed to steel. Never found the mirror.
Even stopped and looked twice since then but nothing. Was amazed at all
the trash in the desert. Found stuff you wouldn't believe. Tin cans
from the fifties and junk like that.
The sheriff (or the man driving the sheriff labeled Blazer) is a mean guy and you don't want to meet him this way. I say this with reason.
Having just been in an accident you'd think he might show a tad bit of
sympathy. Instead he said "Look at this mess", "Jesus","I
gotta get someone out here to clean up this MESS" I'm sure he
sees a lot of crap but it was very unprofessional to say the least in my
opinion. The accident officers where extremely kind!
I must add that Progressive auto insurance really came through. This
happened on a Saturday out in the middle of nowhere. They helped via cell
phone from minute one. I had a check for full value of the car minus the deductible
on Tuesday. Wednesday I partied like there was no tomorrow. Okay I'm
kidding about Wednesday, but I was very surprised at the huge amount I
received. It took four months to get the deductible back but hey it
happened.