A brush with Death and the Trip itself

Monday, Nov. 08, 2004 at 1:19 p.m.

We left Schenectady about 9:30pm on Thursday night. All was well, I made it almost all the way out to Buffalo, which is about 6 hours from here, before I felt like passing off the drive to someone else. (By this time it was probably more like 3am) My brother, Bob, had been napping in the back, and since he's done the drive to Findlay many times, he was up for the drive. We stopped at the rest area just before Angola, Joe hopped in the back, I jumped in the passenger seat, and Bob took up the drive. About a half hour into the trip, both Joe and I were out like lights.

Just before getting into Erie, PA (actually just before the Harborcreek exit) all hell broke loose. It was just before 4am, and we were woken up to the brakes squealing and a loud noise that was something of a cross between a THUD and a BANG. All of us were seriously freaked out, and as soon as my eyes popped open and I saw my hood squished up and my brother shaken and upset and pissed off and appologizing I knew something awful had happened - we hit a fucking deer. Not just any old deer though, a fucking HUGE 400-500lb buck during mating season. Eeew.

Bobs pulled off on the side of the road, and knowing all the trucks that were out pulled forward 50 feet or so out of the way. 2 trucks and a couple cars ran over what was left of the thrashing buck, spreading it and it's pieces about 100 feet down 90 west.

Bob called 911 and within 5 minutes or so we had some police on the scene. I won't bore you with the long, drawn out details of what happened - you know, they radioed for a trooper, made sure none of us were hurt, looked at the damage, ran the plates, pulled the huge hulking carcass off to the side of the road, etc. I wanted to lose it, but I knew I had to keep things together - Bob just kept appologizing, and I know he felt awful because it's one thing to hit something with your OWN car, but it's a totally different thing to hit something with someone ELSE's car. I kept telling him it was alright, that I was just so thankful we were OK, that I didn't care about the car. Joe was in the backseat being pissed off. Pissed at Bob because he had only been driving not even an hour and hit the deer. Pissed at me and yelling about how I "should've gotten my lights fixed" when he told me to, because Bob probably couldn't have seen the deer. (Which I don't know if he really could have ANYWAY, because normally the deer come running from the right side where the brush area is, and this one came out of the grass in the median) I called Mom, let Bob call Dad, got out and looked at the damage myself. The entire front end of my car is wrecked, worse then when I rear-ended that car earlier this year. Plus something punctured the radiator. *sigh*

The troopers got a tow-truck, which Bob went with, and we followed behind to the truck stop at the next exit ahead in the troopers' car. We got there about 4:30, and the tow-truck driver said he'd be back to get us at 7:30 when we could decide what to do with the car and rent another one, etc. So for 3 hours we were in this truck stop outside of Erie, PA. All of us were pretty emotional - Joe was being an ass and not bothering comforting me at all, after making sure I was OK still proceeding to half lecture/half reprimand me for not listening to him. Bobs still felt god awful and was calling back and forth to Mom and Dad for insurance things and a plan. (I'm so very proud and so very thankful for him taking care of the whole situation)

At one point, probably about 5am, we finally sat down in the dining area and ordered coffee. While we were brainstorming a plan as to what to do, suddenly all hell broke loose between Bob and Joe. Joe said that when we rented the car, HE was going to drive because he didn't feel safe driving with either one of us. That set my brother off, telling him it could've happened to anyone (which it definitley could have - we went past probably 4 or 5 dead deer on our way through PA that were slaughtered as well) and that if he wasn't going to stop being a jerk, he could take a bus back to NY. Which led to them starting to, literally, scream at each other and almost break out into a fist fight when I started bawling uncontrollably and sobbing and yelling at them to stop. Luckily, my brother being the good man that he is, backed down, hugged me tight and appologized. Then he got back into the swing of things by getting a phone book and starting to look up Hyundai dealers close by, etc. Bobs was planning on taking a bus back to Albany after we worked things out because he said he didn't want to be in the same car for the following 6 hours with Joe, and I really couldn't blame him. And he knew they'd get over it, that they were just emotional, but he was still pissed off just the same...

About an hour later, after Joe and I went to play some video games where you shoot and kill people, we had all settled down a little bit. I had noticed a cute stuffed pig in the store (Bob loves pigs) and I suggested to Joe that we go and get it for him, as a way of commemorating the night and how he saved our life. (The troopers even told us that with the sheer mass of the deer, we had someone watching over us that night to keep us from getting killed) So we got the pig, wrote funny little quips on it's tag, and gave it later to Bob, which totally softened the mood for all of us. Things were OK.

This is getting long. Heh. Anyhow, we got things worked out. The guy's wife came to get us at 7:30 and took us back to the shop. We told them where we wanted the car to go, Bob played more phone tag with Dad and Mom, and after a much pain-in-the-ass procedure at Enterprise, we were finally on our way to Ohio around 10am or so. I drove, then Joe drove, and then Bob drove the last hour or two. (Even though I know we were supposed to not have anyone else drive because we opted out of paying another $20 a day for another driver to be on the car besides me) I admit I was a little nervous with them driving, especially Bob, but I knew it was this freak accident that had happened, and I knew more than anything else that Bob probably felt the need to show me, if not himself, that he was OK and not afraid to drive. And so it was.

Before I tell you about Ohio itself, let me just say that the whole experience was really frightening not just because that damn deer did $4700 worth of damage to my car, or that if Bob hadn't hit it the way he did, we seriously could have died. What was awful for me about it, and when I told Bob and Joe about it in the truck stop I could barely get it out before exploding in tears, was the dream I had a couple nights before we had left. I get nightmares constantly (yes, still) so that in itself wasn't out of the ordinary. But I had this dream that *I* was the one driving at night... and that *I* had hit a deer. Only in my dream, it panned out much worse for us - both Joe and Bob ended up dead, and all I can remember is being hysterical and screaming and screaming... Because they are the two most important men in my life. (Next to Daddy) And when I found out what was happening, and that if I had even driven an hour longer than I had, it really COULD have been me. And my dream could've came true. And the frightening realization that by some twist of fate we avoided it was almost too much to handle. Damn.

OK, this'll be quick. :) We got into Findlay about 3:30pm. Dad, Barb, and our grandparents were there to greet us, thankful to SEE that we were alright. We relaxed, showered, and they brought out the booze to calm our nerves. (Which was definitley much needed!) So Friday evening was just relaxing in general - Bob had plans to go out with one of his buddies from there, so Joe and I stayed in and visited with my sister(step) and her husband, and we all put Shrek 2 into watch. About 7:15 though, Joe and I were exhausted (at that point, I had been up almost 40 hours straight) so we just went to bed. Heheh.

Saturday morning Barb cooked us all a nice breakfast. Then all of us went into Findlay in the early afternoon - showed Joe around, where our old houses were, went to this record shop that he fell in love with, etc. After that we went to one of the fave local bars and all had a beer and talked. That evening we went out to this killin' Japanese place for hibachi. (Mmmm!!) Then when we got home Joe and I went in the hottub and when we came out, all of us watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour on DVD. It was pretty amazing... the whole entire day, we could finally laugh about what happened. And we kept hearing all these deer jokes. lol. Whew.

Yesterday we got up decently early, had a nice breakfast and then just mulled around the house with each other until about 1pm when we decided to leave. The drive back was uneventful, thankfully!! We stopped a alot, even making a stop in Cleveland since Joe had always wanted to see it, so we didn't get home til a bit after midnight. (Which really is good time, considering that's about what it will usually take to get back and forth) All of us were in bed by 1am, heheh.

So... Currently, my car is still in Erie, PA. I have the rental car until I can get back there. They said that as soon as the insurance people come to check out my car (which should be today or tomorrow) that they'll get started on my car, and it should take about 10 days to fix. I think what we're going to end up doing is when it's done, meet Dad and Barb in PA. They offered to come out to meet us, and then go out for dinner that evening and get a hotel room for the night and driving back our seperate ways in the morning. Daddy even offered that whatever I needed for the deductible (which is $500), whether it was all or part, to just let him know and he'd help. I'm gonna ask for the whole thing, and then give him like half or so back over the winter, you know? He shouldn't have to pay for it at all, but I'm so relieved he offered. So yeah, that's where things stand now. It's a pain in the ass driving because I don't have my EZPass (God, how I hate toll booths!) and I have to park waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the Dutch Gold Lot where the visitor parking is since I don't have my parking permit. (I should just get a temp permit, but I don't feel like shelling out another $30 for two weeks, or whatever it will be) Ahh!! Also, half my book are in my trunk, which sucks. (I thought it might just take til the end of the week, so I was planning on potentially staying down in Ohio but then things changed and I didn't feel like making a trip to Erie to just pick up books...) Annoying!! But I'm just thankful we're all okay and had a great time out in the great state of Ohio!

I've rambled enough. Just thought you'd like to know what was up!!

I think next time we want to travel at night, we might just take the train and rent a car when we get to Findlay. :P

Much Love,
YjaxieY

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