{"id":407,"date":"2006-06-07T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-07T01:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bobtherieau.com\/blog\/index.php\/2006\/06\/07\/524744bb-f62f-42b5-8a17-a4e8ad995590\/"},"modified":"2018-06-13T01:29:15","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T01:29:15","slug":"524744bb-f62f-42b5-8a17-a4e8ad995590","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobtherieau.com\/blog\/2006\/06\/524744bb-f62f-42b5-8a17-a4e8ad995590\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

My Secret Car Crash (of sorts)<\/b><\/p>\n

Friends,<\/p>\n

Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve done something I promised I’d never do. I had a wee vehicular incident caused almost entirely by me. Considering that I was the only one affected, it wasn’t all that cataclysmic. Harrowing? And how. Vehicular damage? Almost nil.<\/p>\n

Monday morning commute down the hill. It’s usually a non-event and I take my time (that’s my<\/u><\/i> time, which is pretty quick, but it’s my own pace) but yesterday there was some hoon riding my bumper no matter what I did to try and shake him off. Short of playing the Slow Game, which the might Dakota isn’t any good at (no horsepower means no mid-range acceleration) I decided to put an end to the torment. Unnaturally, I decided to turn out in the first place, rather than the best place so while still at speed I let the blinker click twice and swerved out into the first dirt patch. It wasn’t dirt though and it was a little shorter than an actual patch.<\/p>\n

The spot I’d “chosen” was paved, but covered in gravel so even the anti-lock robots failed to slow down the brave little truckster. The pedal shuddered without any actual, perceivable shedding of momentum. Good thing that big rock was there.<\/p>\n

I was heading down a ravine and didn’t like the looks of the stuff I couldn’t see beyond and below the hood. Cranked the wheel hard left and stopped with nothing less than a bang. Oh yeah, the dust, tire smoke, stalled engine, that was all there too.<\/p>\n

With the right front wheel in the ditch, my head not very clear (no physical impact in the cab, no airbags, just adrenaline) the shifter flung in reverse, I gunned it to get out and back on level ground. Did I mention the thing about the absence of traction? Pea gravel on pavement turns out to be a bitter enemy of my cheap tires and even though I spun the things really, really fast, I couldn’t get out.<\/p>\n

Let’s consider how dumb this is getting for a moment (I did). Emotion overrode good sense in swerving off the road. At speed. I spent way too long to mash the brake to the floor to take advantage of whatever ABS could offer, and now I was sitting there spinning my wheels, thinking more about being late for work than about the repercussions.<\/p>\n

I hit the life-saving rock with the side of the right front wheel, leaving the aluminum banged up and a tiny piece of the lip actually broken off. Otherwise, the wheel was straight and would still be fine to drive on if I took it easy. Breathe, move the rock, crank the wheels, rock the pickup to get out of my little “stuck” and I was back on the flat.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I turned out of traffic nine times (in perfectly safe places) before I made it to work. Too spooked, I suppose, but my secret crash could’ve been much, much worse.<\/p>\n

Like, a lot worse. Not kidding. Ravine. Airbags (maybe, if they still work). Bigger rocks at the bottom.<\/p>\n

Time for a new job, methinks.<\/p>\n

Your pal,<\/p>\n

bob<\/p>\n

P.S. No, I’m not getting the motorcycle. Just in case you were wondering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Secret Car Crash (of sorts) Friends, Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve done something I promised I’d never do. I had a wee vehicular incident caused almost entirely by me. Considering that I was the only one affected, it wasn’t all that cataclysmic. Harrowing? And how. Vehicular damage? Almost nil. Monday morning commute down the … <\/p>\n

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