This winter we sort of had a rough go at life. Our Arizona-ness stood out so much more than usual. After a year of no issues on the road, both Jesse and I had semi-scary incidents.
First Jesse slid off the road in snowy weather while headed up north in Vermont on December 11, 2012. He said that one minute he was fine, the next the car began to slide and ended up off the road and down an embankment. I was terrified when that morning I got several people calling/texting to ask if Jesse was fine before I even found out that it had happened. Luckily he was completely uninjured and ended up hitting a pile of snow which stopped the car from continuing down the embankment, hitting any trees. Apparently the week before, someone else also slid down this embankment, hit a tree and was killed. Yeah, I would definitely agree that he was being watched out for that day.
Unfortuantely for us, we only had minimal insurance coverage on this vehicle (basically it covers any damage to another vehicle, but not ours). So we were sort of out of luck as far as repairs.
We were pretty sad that our beloved 2003 Nissan Maxima with beautiful black leather seats is no longer. This car has seen the entire country from coast to coast. It faithfully drove us on our long journey from Arizona to New Hampshire, it has taken trips to Mexico many times, Utah, Las Vegas, California, Colorado, you name it. RIP Maxima, we are so sad to no longer have two vehicles in our family. Now we just have the count down until school is over and we will no longer have to share a car.
After the previous accident, we were much more cautious on the roads, reminding ourselves that there is lots of black ice. I had prided myself in my excellent driving school (haha), and thought I was doing pretty well at learning how to drive in snow. Yesterday I decided (idiotically) to drive down to Sunapee during Maddie and Robby's ski lessons and pick up some cheap skis for Eli that I had found on Craigslist. It was snowing outside but I told myself that I would just drive slow on the roads and everything would be fine. After all I was going on the interstate and surely they would keep those roads in pristine condition.
Partway through my drive it started snowing pretty badly, I began to have a bad feeling inside. Instead of listening to the prompting that was telling me it was a bad idea, I pushed it away. I told myself that I was just allowing negativity and fear overcome. As I continued along the road, the driving conditions were quickly worsening, everyone was driving slowly, and visibly wasn't good. As my exit approached, I realized that I would have to change lanes. This is particularly problematic during snow storms, because there is always a large collection of slush that divides the lanes on the road.
As I crossed through the slush my car immediately began to slide. I tried with all my might to gently tap the breaks and hold my steering wheel steady. Unfortunately my car slid sideways, before turning 180 degrees and hitting the guard rail despite my limited interventions. I ended up stopped facing head on to traffic and was lucky enough that the vehicles behind me were able to stop in time, including a semi. With a pounding heart, I managed to turn around and pull over on the side of the road safely with Eli crying in the background saying "Mommy, that was reeallly scary". I heartily agreed and said a quick prayer of gratitude for us being safe. My first thought after pulling over was about my other two kids. I knew at that point there was no way I would be back in time to pick them up from lessons. I was so grateful to know that we had friends also at the ski resort I could call to take my kids home.
When I got out of my car, I was again grateful for driving such a large vehicle. Besides the dent in my rear passenger side bumper, and a definitely flat tire/destroyed wheel everything else was fine. I was able to call up Jesse, who was driven by another friend to come help me. After an hour or so, we had a spare tire/wheel on the car and we were headed home.
This could have been a very expensive and dangerous accident that we managed to escape with only needing a new tire and wheel. I have been even more cautious since then and have to admit that I am counting down the days until the weather warms and we don't have to worry about black ice.
My sweet hubby dropped everything he was doing to come out and help me. I was so grateful to have a husband that knows how to changes tires, even in a snowstorm
Eli was cold, tired and hungry in the car so I let him entertain himself with my camera that included about 15 different head shots of yours truly
We also had kindles with us that helped pass the time.
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