Let's Hope the Worst is Over
Lin and I made it to Arkansas safely. We have had an interesting trip so far. Yesterday, we drove 15 hours to Indiana and stayed with Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Daniel. Today, on the way to Arkansas, we got in a big crash just outside of St. Louis. A green Mitsubishi swerved across the road (stories differ, they say they were sideswiped by a truck, the truck says they hit him), and into our lane, and we crashed. My car is completely wrecked. The front end is crumpled beyond repair all the way up to the windshield.
Both of the front airbags went off. Airbags smell HORRIBLE. I was resting. We had just gotten back in the car after lunch at Long John Silver's, it was about 3 pm, and I had my eyes closed but I wasn't asleep. Lin said something ("Oh Shit" or something like that) and I opened my eyes and there was a green car sideways on the highway in front of us. Lin slammed on the brakes and then we slammed into the car and then the airbags slammed into us.
A man in a truck pulled over and called 911. Nobody was seriously injured. The police arrived and blocked off two lanes of traffic and took statements. Then they towed our cars and brought us all back to the police station. We weren't really sure what we were supposed to be doing there, but we helped the officer write his report and we got the information on the other two cars. Then we called Enterprise, at the officer's suggestion, but when they finally arrived to pick us up, they told us that they only do round-trip rentals. So we had to call other rental companies. The first three we called had no cars available. The fourth wouldn't rent to people under 21. Finally National rented us an SUV (so all our stuff would fit) for about $300.
Even though we had called a taxi while we were still on the way to Enterprise, it took over half an hour to arrive, and by the time it did, it was already 5 pm. The traffic was horrible, and Lin called Terry's Towing to see when they closed (6 pm) and if they could stay open later (no). The taxi driver suggested that we should go there first and fill up the taxi with our stuff and then go and rent the car, so that's what we did. By then it was raining and the towing company had to clip something in the crunched part of the car so that we could put it in neutral and push it so that we could get in the trunk. The whole endeavor with the taxi took about two hours. The driver actually offered to drive us all the way to Fayetteville for the price of the rental car but I was in the front middle without a seatbelt and he was hesitant about the hour. We finally got everything loaded in our SUV at about 7:15 and left for Fayettville. Lin drove fairly slowly. We were both still pretty shaken up.
Lin and I are now at my Aunt Merry's house, relatively unscathed, with all of our stuff. She made us some food and some beds, which is what we needed the most. We'll see how my jaw and my bruises are tomorrow. Hopefully not too bad, so I can go help Lin find a car, since I no longer have one...
Both of the front airbags went off. Airbags smell HORRIBLE. I was resting. We had just gotten back in the car after lunch at Long John Silver's, it was about 3 pm, and I had my eyes closed but I wasn't asleep. Lin said something ("Oh Shit" or something like that) and I opened my eyes and there was a green car sideways on the highway in front of us. Lin slammed on the brakes and then we slammed into the car and then the airbags slammed into us.
A man in a truck pulled over and called 911. Nobody was seriously injured. The police arrived and blocked off two lanes of traffic and took statements. Then they towed our cars and brought us all back to the police station. We weren't really sure what we were supposed to be doing there, but we helped the officer write his report and we got the information on the other two cars. Then we called Enterprise, at the officer's suggestion, but when they finally arrived to pick us up, they told us that they only do round-trip rentals. So we had to call other rental companies. The first three we called had no cars available. The fourth wouldn't rent to people under 21. Finally National rented us an SUV (so all our stuff would fit) for about $300.
Even though we had called a taxi while we were still on the way to Enterprise, it took over half an hour to arrive, and by the time it did, it was already 5 pm. The traffic was horrible, and Lin called Terry's Towing to see when they closed (6 pm) and if they could stay open later (no). The taxi driver suggested that we should go there first and fill up the taxi with our stuff and then go and rent the car, so that's what we did. By then it was raining and the towing company had to clip something in the crunched part of the car so that we could put it in neutral and push it so that we could get in the trunk. The whole endeavor with the taxi took about two hours. The driver actually offered to drive us all the way to Fayetteville for the price of the rental car but I was in the front middle without a seatbelt and he was hesitant about the hour. We finally got everything loaded in our SUV at about 7:15 and left for Fayettville. Lin drove fairly slowly. We were both still pretty shaken up.
Lin and I are now at my Aunt Merry's house, relatively unscathed, with all of our stuff. She made us some food and some beds, which is what we needed the most. We'll see how my jaw and my bruises are tomorrow. Hopefully not too bad, so I can go help Lin find a car, since I no longer have one...
posted by Jessica at 3:02 AM
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