Yikes! How did it get to be Thursday? Well, okay ya caught me. I'm writing this at 9 o'clock at night on Wednesday. But still, how did it get to be Thursday? My how the time flies when one reacquaints themselves with the working class, even if it is part time.
So for those of you who haven't kept up or are just joining us I was working for the base post office on a very, very part time schedule, but now have a job working for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Community and Technical College, based out of Delta Junction. There's a whole lot more to this neat little part time job, of which the least is more hours and better money. There are a lot of people involved and I'll spare you all the details until I know more about how things all fit together.
Why am I talking about my job? Well because it's the reason for the story I'm leading up to. Last Friday I made the two hour drive to Fairbanks, in the dark at 7:30 am. I was heading to the main office of UAF CTC for some training.
Several hours of training later I began my journey home, which included a stop at the KFC before leaving town. Yes. I took Kentucky Fried Chicken home with me, this was to be that nights dinner. The beauty of an insulated cooler bag is that it will also keep hot foods warm in transport.
So, out of town I go. Snowing all the way. Keep in mind the snow in this part of the state is generally a fine dry snow, I call it powdered sugar snow and this night was no exception.
The flip side of my job is my knitting hobby. It seems I was just meant to knit I have just begun my ninth project. WOW! Nine projects since I joined the local knitting group in November. They're a lovely bunch of ladies and all give me a bad time about making them look bad. I've driven in the snow many times, even in the snow in the dark as was this evening. I'm from Wyoming, remember? We do that kind of stuff.
Everything went along smoothly, in spite of other cars and their driving mishaps. I kept my speed down, as one should do in these types of road conditions. I kept the cruise control off, again a good idea when driving in snowy road conditions. Then it happened. Yep, I joined the others in their off road misfortune.
I was about 45 minutes from home, near the Birch Lake Rest Area. As I rounded the curve there, my car fish tailed and I lost control. Don't panic. I was fine, I just ended up in the ditch, a big ditch at that. I wasn't hurt, my car was still rubber side down and I did all the things I was trained to do. I just went for the ride.
I was blessed that night with three good samaritans. Between the three of them they were able to pull my car from the ditch. By the time I was free of the ditch hubby was already on his way. So, I chose to stay put until he arrived on the scene. Once he arrived, it was decided he would follow me home. We left the rest area only to travel a few feet down the road and discover I had a flat tire.
It's late, I'm tired, a little rattled and now we have to change a tire, in the dark on the shoulder of the road. Thankfully Hubby's only concern was that his Girly was safe and unharmed in the chain of the evenings events. He is patient and changes the tire, to the spare we lovingly call the doughnut, and then we're on our way again.
Not only do I have the tiny spare tire on my car, I have also knocked things out of alignment with my ditch diving, so I can now only go about 40 to 45 MPH without my car shaking me like a martini. We are however, homeward bound. What next? The check engine light kicks on of course. With no strange smells or noises we push on home, at a snails pace, me watching gauges for any signs of trouble.
The remainder of the drive home is uneventful, thank God. Which, by the way I did any number of times on my way home. I was so very lucky, in so very many ways. I went off the road in an area that had cell phone signal. There was no on-coming traffic while I was doing doughnuts on may way into the ditch. I was helped by three kind men. I knew right where I was and it was easy to tell Hubby where to find me. I had 72 hour kit, sleeping bag and shovel in my car.
The road we travel from Delta Junction to Fairbanks is mostly two lane, with any number of crazy curves, a long stretch that parallels the river and a few places with sharp drop-offs. I gave my angels a little bit of a scare, not to mention the scare I gave myself, but I was so blessed that night in the dark and the snow to be unharmed.
Now that we've had time to access the course of events from that evening, we're fairly sure that my flat tire happened before the ditch diving. It was most likely the cause of the ditch diving. The choices I made kept me safe and unharmed while the event unraveled in those few minutes. I can say I didn't panic, but I did scream a little while I was going in circles. I didn't try to correct the out-of-control car. Often times people try to correct and take control in a situation like this, only to over correct and in many cases cause a rollover.
Why did I choose to write about this? For the plain and simple reason
that we never know what's going to happen in our lives. We can set out a
plan, but things don't always go according to that plan. Always count your blessing, no matter how simple or small they may seem.
©SLMPetersen 2007-2013
So scary, but could have been so much more scary. Glad you are OK and that the car only has minor damage.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I should also note that the car ended up being fine for the most part. Once the snow melted out of all the nooks and crannies the check engine light went off, we've repaired the tire and we have it scheduled for an alignment this coming week.
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