We are back home after a mostly enjoyable trip. We went to Jacksonville to baby-sit for K&T. Next it was a drive up to North Carolina to see Nana and the whole clan up there. Then it was back to Jacksonville to participate in the Gate River Run with the added bonus of seeing a shuttle launch from long distance. The only down side was an accident we had on I-95 in Georgia. Now some random details:
I already blogged some about the first part of the trip so I’ll try not to repeat myself. I used our GPS to guide us to Lenoir, NC and on the way north it took us on the blue roads for about half the trip. We saw some nice SC and NC countryside and the drive itself wasn’t bad. The GPS maps in my Garmin are outdated and we found a couple of intersections that did not agree with what the GPS had. The unit quickly adjusts with alternate routes and it didn’t present a problem. When we were in Lenoir Penny wanted to go to a quilt shop and we found that the major road we were on had been changed. The GPS quickly rerouted us but we had to again disobey its directions when it told us to go the wrong way on a one-way street. The 3rd adjustment got us there. For the trip back to J’ville the GPS took us on the interstates so we missed all the scenery. We didn’t miss the woman who cut me off at 65 MPH on I-95 in Georgia.
There we were tooling down the highway on cruise control listening to the latest adventure of Myron Bolitar when Penny stiffens up in her seat and says something like, “MY GOD SHE’S COMING OVER!” This was one time where Penny’s propensity for watching all the other drivers and yelling at the idiots paid off. She alerted me to the car a split second before I noticed it and gave me that small advantage I needed to avoid a bad collision. The problem I had was that I had no idea whether another car was sitting right next to me in the left lane (I was in the center lane) and I had no time to check—I had to move from this other car’s path. I swerved to the left expecting to feel a hefty crunch, as I slammed into a car in the outside lane. As I turned the wheel the expected impact did not come. I very quickly flashed on my side mirror and it was filled with the headlights of a car that was in the process of passing me and whose nose was beside my rear wheel. I had no choice but to swerve back to the right hoping that the car there had moved back to the right lane. No such luck. The lady driving kept coming into the lane so I tried to steer such that I wouldn’t hit her. As it turned out the best I could do was to get my car parallel with hers and the 2 cars bumped moving about the same speed and separated. I had run the guy on my left off the road but his quick reaction and willingness to leave the highway saved us from hitting each other. He did not damage his car. We had just come off an overpass where there was nowhere to run off the road. If the timing was slightly earlier we would have all been going down the highway sideways or worse.
We all got the cars under control and pulled over on the left shoulder. The guy I ran off the road stayed with us as a witness. After checking that Penny was OK (she was OK physically but was a nervous wreck—actually shaking. After all she had a ringside seat of 2 cars coming together at highway speeds.) and checking that everyone else was the same I called 911. I can’t remember calling 911 before so that was a first. We had 3 cops show up. 2 state and 1 local. We provided the necessary info for the accident report; I took pictures and thanked the guy in the 3rd car profusely for not hitting me and we all went on our way. The damage to my car was a crescent shaped dent across the 2 passenger doors from her wheel well. Her car was dented around the wheel well. Significantly there was no scraping involved indicating the 2 cars just kissed one another and separated.
Penny felt the effects of the stress of the accident for the rest of the trip.
I filed a report with my insurance company. They now take a recorded statement of the details of the accident from everyone involved. That’s another first.
That’s all my blogging time for today—to be continued tomorrow.
I already blogged some about the first part of the trip so I’ll try not to repeat myself. I used our GPS to guide us to Lenoir, NC and on the way north it took us on the blue roads for about half the trip. We saw some nice SC and NC countryside and the drive itself wasn’t bad. The GPS maps in my Garmin are outdated and we found a couple of intersections that did not agree with what the GPS had. The unit quickly adjusts with alternate routes and it didn’t present a problem. When we were in Lenoir Penny wanted to go to a quilt shop and we found that the major road we were on had been changed. The GPS quickly rerouted us but we had to again disobey its directions when it told us to go the wrong way on a one-way street. The 3rd adjustment got us there. For the trip back to J’ville the GPS took us on the interstates so we missed all the scenery. We didn’t miss the woman who cut me off at 65 MPH on I-95 in Georgia.
There we were tooling down the highway on cruise control listening to the latest adventure of Myron Bolitar when Penny stiffens up in her seat and says something like, “MY GOD SHE’S COMING OVER!” This was one time where Penny’s propensity for watching all the other drivers and yelling at the idiots paid off. She alerted me to the car a split second before I noticed it and gave me that small advantage I needed to avoid a bad collision. The problem I had was that I had no idea whether another car was sitting right next to me in the left lane (I was in the center lane) and I had no time to check—I had to move from this other car’s path. I swerved to the left expecting to feel a hefty crunch, as I slammed into a car in the outside lane. As I turned the wheel the expected impact did not come. I very quickly flashed on my side mirror and it was filled with the headlights of a car that was in the process of passing me and whose nose was beside my rear wheel. I had no choice but to swerve back to the right hoping that the car there had moved back to the right lane. No such luck. The lady driving kept coming into the lane so I tried to steer such that I wouldn’t hit her. As it turned out the best I could do was to get my car parallel with hers and the 2 cars bumped moving about the same speed and separated. I had run the guy on my left off the road but his quick reaction and willingness to leave the highway saved us from hitting each other. He did not damage his car. We had just come off an overpass where there was nowhere to run off the road. If the timing was slightly earlier we would have all been going down the highway sideways or worse.
We all got the cars under control and pulled over on the left shoulder. The guy I ran off the road stayed with us as a witness. After checking that Penny was OK (she was OK physically but was a nervous wreck—actually shaking. After all she had a ringside seat of 2 cars coming together at highway speeds.) and checking that everyone else was the same I called 911. I can’t remember calling 911 before so that was a first. We had 3 cops show up. 2 state and 1 local. We provided the necessary info for the accident report; I took pictures and thanked the guy in the 3rd car profusely for not hitting me and we all went on our way. The damage to my car was a crescent shaped dent across the 2 passenger doors from her wheel well. Her car was dented around the wheel well. Significantly there was no scraping involved indicating the 2 cars just kissed one another and separated.
Penny felt the effects of the stress of the accident for the rest of the trip.
I filed a report with my insurance company. They now take a recorded statement of the details of the accident from everyone involved. That’s another first.
That’s all my blogging time for today—to be continued tomorrow.
Kitty Update—The feeder worked fine for the 12 days—the tray had the daily ration in it when I checked it. Only Buzz showed up for feeding but he made up for the lack of cats. It is raining. Buzz really acted as if he was glad to see me meowing constantly and rubbing my nose with his until my nose got itchy. Buzz even stayed around after he ate for a second session of petting. When I tried to close th sliding door he grabbed it with his paw so I couldn't close it. He didn't want me to go away.
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