Sunday, November 13, 2005
How the Colts saved a life
I'm back from a trip up north, although we nearly didn't make it. We had a super close call outside of Kokomo, a lot closer than Amanda realized. She was in the passenger seat sleeping away, which is unusual for her, because she doesn't normally sleep in the car. She was tired though so I told her to sleep.I'm just a driving along listening to the Colts game minding my own business. I'm a pretty courteous driver too just FYI...even though I hate other drivers. I have my cruise set at 6x mph and am in the left lane passing a big ass white Dodge truck. I just get around him when I stupid ass semi driver decides to pull into the median. That's all well and good if you are in a car, but not in an 70+ feet long truck. He continues to pull out, all the while I'm in the left lane with the big ass truck next to me. There is a Jeep behind me. I'm in the worst possible situation possible...literally no out.
I think for a split second on what to do, and I decide that I'm going to try to punch it and make it around the semi, and hopefully the truck slows down.
The semi is still pulling out...my foot is mashed against the floor.
My hand is on the horn but it's a stupid Mazda, so it's not very loud.
Amanda wakes up...can't pay any attention to her.
73...
75...
77...God, I should have downshifted into 4th...too late now.
78...The bastard is still pulling out.
79...Turn the wheel to the right.
80...Oh shit who am I going to hit? Semi or white truck?
82...I clear the semi by about a foot, the bastard was still pulling out.
81...I look in my rearview mirror, the white truck is about 5 car lengths back...he must have hit the brakes at the last minute.
79...Cusswords are spoken, Amanda goes back to sleep.
77...Bad thoughts are going through my mind involving semi truck driver and my large maglite flashlight in the back seat.
75...Wow, I'm glad that I wasn't trying to change the radio station or something, if I wasn't listening to the Colts game I would have been channel surfing, damn satellite radio. Thank you Indianapolis.
73...Can't see the truck anymore.
72..
70...
68...
So, that was my close call. It was much closer than I would like. I had brief flashbacks to '99 and hitting the semi on I65. Yeah, me vs semi once before. I am a little better off right now in my Mazda3 with it's advanced safety features, but it's still scary. In '99 I was in a Geo Metro and hydroplaned and slid into the side of the trailer going about 50-55mph. I spun out and slammed into a guard rail in reverse. Pretty effing scary. That song "Summertime Girl" was on the radio and it scares me whenever I hear it in the car now. Luckily Amanda and I were ok from that, and we were ok today, but I don't like close calls. My reckless days are in the past, being a nice mature adult driver should have prevented these close calls but that really isn't' the case.
So, other than soiling my pants (not really) this weekend wasn't too bad. It went by way too fast though. I like my weekends to last a long time, and this weekend flew by! We visited with my aunt, uncle, brother and sister-in-law last night. Today we saw my mom, dad, sister, and niece. It was a short(ish) trip up north, but it was better than nothing. We should have headed up earlier Saturday, but that is ok...can't change it now.
I'm feeling like crap right now though. I've been perpetually plugged up the last couple weeks and I'm beginning to go crazy. It really sucks that the meth head bastard druggie sob abusers have forced the law abiding citizens to jump through hoops to buy sudafed. Since sudafed is harder to buy now than beer or cigarettes, I now have to take the new PE or whatever it is. Unfortunately it doesn't work that good. So, since it sucks I'm sitting her wearing breathright nasal strips. Yes, that's right...those little tan things that were all the rage in the late 90's for football players. I bought a package of them a couple weeks ago to see if it would help my snoring, but they work wonders for breathing. Like magic, you put them on and you can breathe, it's amazing what an extra 1/32 of an inch can do to your nasal passageways.
Ok, that's it for now, I might update later on, but my thumb is cramping up...
