to start… I’m okay. everyone else in the car is okay. my car is… okay i suppose. Things could have been a lot worse.
Amos, Nicole and I went to Anchorage on Monday for a meeting for me and to see some of Amos’ friends. We left Tuesday afternoon with his brother and a friend in tow and began the long journey home… much longer than it should have been. On a good day you can get to Anchorage in 3 1/2 to 4 hours from Homer. On Monday it took 5. So, due to weather I was figuring 5 but hoping for less. Things were going well, we stopped off at this really cool place a took some pictures and the guys smoked. I soon was saying, let us go, we need to get back on the road, and away we went. Before I knew it we had passed Girdwood, a small town with a gas station that everyone stops in to pee. “Wow I thought we’ve already made it here. good, maybe we’ll get to church in time for youth.” 2 more miles down the road and we come to a dangerous turn, though I didn;t know how dangerous at the time. I feel that Amos is driving a little too fast. (he’s driving because the conditions aren’t the greatest and this Texas girl isn’t quite used to them yet.) I try not to freak out because I tell myself, he knows what he’s doing, it’ll be no big deal…. Suddenly we lose control of the vehicle and are heading into an on coming pick-up. Amos is able to correct it enough to get out of the way, but because of the ice it’s actually an over-correction and we skid into the guardrail on the right side of the road with the front of the vehicle. the car continues to slid around on the ice and we bounce on the guardrail on the other side of the road…. again with the front of the vehicle. We slid backwards now about 100 feet from where we last hit up against the guardrail, but not touching it. Luckily there was the snow the snow plow had pushed that helped cushion the vehicle from hitting the guardrail again. Now Amos doesn’t like wearing his seatbelt…. But most of the time when he’s in my vehicle, he will, even if I have to get on to him. I had only about 10 minutes before reminded him after our stop to put his belt on… thank GOD! After assuring ourselves we were okay, I made poeple move so I could get out of the car. The passenger side was about 3 inches from the guardrail, preventing me from getting out my own door. Amos is just stunned, he can barely speak and doesn’t move so I crawl out the back seat. I’m crying right now. the shock of it all is wearing off and I just need to cry. The damage doesn’t look too bad actually. In fact… it’s all located on the front bumper. WHAT? we hit two guardrails at at least 30 miles per hour, though I’m positive it’s closer to 50 or more and the only damage is on the bumper. I have fog lights in the bumper and both of them are knocked out and the bumper is torn in a few places but that’s it. not even a scratch is noticeable on the paint anywhere. The oncoming pickup truck we almost hit turns around to check on us. He was for sure that the first guardrail we hit wasn’t going to hold and we’d end up in the freezing ocean many feet below. Thank God it did hold. We tried to start the car and limp it back to Girdwood. The guys had looked and saw something leaking. However, the car wouldn’t go and I wasn’t getting much power. Andy even tried to push, in case we were just stuck and then the engine died. so I called a tow truck, took a picture of the front of the car, and the guy gave us a ride back to Girdwood to wait it out. It was snowing and pretty damn cold so we were grateful.
I call my insurance company and begin getting that work started and a state trooper shows up at the gas station. (it helps that they have an office located in the same parking lot) He takes me out to the car and we start talking about the accident. I’m spacing a little (come on wouldn’t you) and I realize, oh shoot, Amos should have come along because he was driving. So I tell the officer, I wasn’t driver and apologize that I didn’t mention it before had. I had enough information about Amos that The officer was okay with it. (especially after I told him my dad was a cop too, he became a bit nicer.) We go back to the gas station and I make more phone calls, including one to my father. Amos asks if there’s a place we can sit down nearby and I think, I’m sure there is, ask someone who works here….. THey don’t, they just wait till I get off the phone. So i ask and we take refuge in the Alpine Diner while waiting for the two truck. The state trooper failed to mention to them that there were 5 of us and there was not room for all of us to go back to Anchorage. So, we stayed the night at the Alyeska Prince Hotel, a 4 star hotel and ski resort… And my insurance will be covering that. Nice huh, go state farm.
The next morning we are picked up by one of the mother’s of my youth. She was in Anchorage Christmas shopping and drove the 30 miles to come get us and took us to the car rental place. YEAH SALLY! We rented an F-150 full cab with 4 wheel drive. Afterwads, since it was SOOOOO close I stopped into the body shop to get a few things out of my car. Luckily I did, I had paperwork to sign. Then I stopped into my car dealership tp see my sale guy, who’s really nice. I had called him right afterwards to find out about things. Anyhow, I show him the picture and we get to talking. Turns out the car has an emergency fuel shut off in case of a collision…. that’s why the car wouldn’t go. And most likely, what was leaking was the window washer fluid, because the reservoir is right behind the bumper on the passenger side and we hit hard there. That’s where the most damage to the bumper was. So maybe there’s even less damage to the car than we thought. I’ll have the rental for a week at less than $11 a day and my car will be able to be worked on this week and while I am out of town. Praise God.
We then began the VERY long journey home. my patience is at the end of the rope by now and Amos is getting on my nerves a little. I know he feels bad so I try not to bring up the fact that he just wrecked my new car.  At one point everyone kinda complains about how long it’s taking. okay, so i was driving a little slow. Some poeple were driving just as slow, the weather was snowy and not great. Turns, especially left ones are a little freaky to me right now so I was taking them slow. It only took about 5 1/2 hours to get home, which isn’t horrible considering. Anyhow, I am safe. I’m a bit sore, so I think I might go get checked out. My back hurts a bit. Okay, so it hurt some before hand but it’s hurting more and it’s in the middle and the left side now and not just on the right side after my sledding accident. Anyhow, that is life, God was watching out for us. Things could have been so much worse. hope you enjoyed my story.