Conference rdvax::grateful

406.0. "Road Kill / Instant Religeon note" by PONDA::64423::BELKIN (the slow one now will later be fast) Mon May 16 1994 19:02

Caution - graphic accident description follows (about the 7-8th paragraph).
Do not read this if you are eating lunch.


I just got back from visiting my sister in Columbus, OH, for 2 weeks.
I went out there and bought here a multimedia PC, printer, 17" monitor, 
tape backup, used steelcase desk, etc.  She's going thru a divorce and
need to use programs like Microsoft Money to track where the money for the
household (2 kids) goes.

I was driving back (600 miles) from Columbus to NYC on Friday, to stay over 
at my parent's house Friday night.  Then I was gonna drive home to Lowell
(210 miles) on Sat.   Car's loaded full with my bike, 2 dead VCR's I'm bringing
back for my mom to get fixed, milk crate of tools and electronic repair stuff,
an oscillisope (I was prepared to fix anything), my VT340 terminal and modem,
about 2 shoeboxes of CDs, and one case of tapes,  my portable CD player,
clothing, camera, hiking backback, birding binoculars (never did have the
time to take my sister's kids out hiking), etc.

I got a very late start leaving Columbus - 1:30 PM.
Its about a 10-11 hour drive to NYC.  I ate a lousy dinner from 7:30 to 8:30.

I'm tooling along I80 in Pennsylvania.  Light traffic.  I alternate listening
to Dead tapes, CDs, and the CB radio.  I play air traffic controller with the
info about the cops I hear over the CB, only I'm tracking the location of
police cruisers, not 747s.  ("Smokey on your side at mile 143".   Umm.. I'm
at mile what?)

I'm counting down the miles to NYC and around 9 PM I passed less than 200 to go.
"This is only like driving from Lowell to NYC, I've done that a million
times, piece of cake, be home in less than 4 hours".

9:50 PM.  Guy 1/4 mile in front me hits his breaks for a brief instant.
I think he maybe spotted a cop so I look down to my CB to turn on the volume
and turn down the tape.  I look back up the road - like a camera photoflash
there a BIG HUGE DEER broadside RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, 15 FEET away.

No time to react, do anything, other than recognize there a BIG HUGE deer on
front of me.  BLAM!!  crunch crunch  thump thump    can't see too well out the 
windshield,  I can't even believe the windshields' still there in one piece.
In a few seconds that seem like hours I freak out, put the car in neutral,
start scanning the instruments, I'm sure the engines's f***ed, what, its
STILL running, I'm coasting to stop, God hope no one hits ME from the rear,
can't see out the back window its all smeared, hit the emergency blinkers, 
can I still steer?, where's the breakdown lane? coasting, still no warning 
lights, thats impossible!, can't see out front, I still got a headlight
somehow, try the wipers amazingly they work but only smear the window more, 
roll down my side window stick my head out to see, slow down to a stop in the 
breakdown lane, wow the engines's STILL running, freak out a lot more, uhh 
should I leave the engine on and risk fire, or turn it off and maybe it won't 
start?  SHIT this can't have happened!!!!!  Hyperventilating.. I'm alive 
somehow, and not even scratched.   How can I hit such a big deer dead-on
and survive?   start calling on the CB.  leave the engine on,  dig the
flashlight out of the glovebox, afraid to get out and look, but I gotta...

Front hood's got a big 2' diameter dent in and pushed up, like putting a
thumb into a sheet of silly putty.   Look under car.. dripping coolant, but
not a gusher, not really blood on windshield, but what looks like chewed up 
straw-grass.

Wobble over to the back of the car, something on the back hatch?  Shine the
flashlight.. its... a little tiny deer?  Ughhhh... I hit a big deer.. how did
it turn into a little deer?  My mind is getting (even more) blown.. I look 
again.. the little deer is all wet and its layed out neatly along the back 
windshield wiper on the hatch.. its head is facing me, eyes lighting up demon 
green reflecting the light from the flashlight... it looks hardly scratched..
and..I...realize... its newborn... no.. not born yet..somehow the
impact made the big mother dear just sorta blow up and freakishly the
unborn foal landed on the back window.  I don't know whether to cry, laugh
hysterically, or throw up, or all three at once.   This is like a scene
from "Eraserhead", or some other bad gory science fiction movie where you
go "yeah, right, that shit never happens" only its really happening, and to me.

I don't wanna touch it and I find a paper bag in my car to pick it 
up by a leg with and get it off my car.

A truck pulls over in front of me, and a car.  Two guys come over, lean in the
window, trucker asks, "you OK?  you want me to call the police?  You ain't
going anywhere, you're radiator's leaking.  You want ride someplace?"  
Other guy from the 4-wheeler says he was behind me and caught a piece of the 
deer that I hit.  I tell the trucker I'm OK, I'm not leaving the car, 
and yes, please call state police.  They leave me and I shut off the engine.

Statie finally shows up after about 25 minutes.  Had fun listening to the
CB - truckers talking about the 4-wheeler who just caught a deer, ("Yeah, I
got my ears on, thats me"), and calling out for "anyone seen the state police 
yet?"   I give him the whole story, and he looks over the car.  "Thats a
pretty big dent there, how fast where you going"  "Same speed as everyone else
on the road, Officer".   I couldn't decide if I wanted to get towed, or try
to drive it. "Officer, how far down is the nearest exit, is there a motel
there?  Its 10 miles to Exit 45 and there a motel and a garage with tow trucks.
Leaking coolant but not a gusher.. engine started up, risk it, got the statie 
to escort me.  Since the car could still be driven, and no other cars were
involved, he only has to file the accident and doesn't cite me for anything.

Get going, up to 45 MPH.  Eyes glued to the temperature gauge.  2 miles, still
not overheating... put the heater on full to try to dump out heat anyway.
Not much heat coming out the dashboard!   5 miles, still OK.. looks like
I'll make it.   Finally get to the exit, the Best Western is right there, 
"Thanks very much officer!"

Check in, get a room.  Driving up the hill my room, the engine finally starts
steaming and the gauge starts climbing.  Call home.  "Mom, are you sitting 
down?"  "Dad, can you  come out with the Volvo?"  How we gonna get my car to 
NYC, a towtruck or flatbed trailer will cost a fortune?  (its 110 miles).  
The Volvo can't tow my car.  We talk, hang up, they call my sister, then call 
me back.  Judy suggested the idea of renting a U-haul truck and trailer.  
I look in the phone book, there's a coupla of U-haul dealers in the next town 
over, just before the Delaware Water Gap.  Yeah, even if my engine has no more
coolant I can still run of for a minute to get the car up the on the trailer.

Sat. morning.  Mom calls back at 9 AM.  Its all planned out.  Dad and my
brother are coming out in the Volvo, and are stopping off at the U-haul place
to get a 17' truck and car trailer.  We'll bring the car to a Honda dealership 
in Glen Head, LI, thats about 12 miles from my parent's house, where my Mom 
bought a 94 Accord wagon last month.  I figure it'll be easier to car my 
car fixed at a dealer near my parents, where they can keep an eye on things, 
than to try to drag my car the rest of the way back to Lowell.  And I'll
borrow one of my parent's cars while mines getting fixed.

Dave calls at 2 PM, "We're at the U-haul place and we got the truck".  They 
finally show up at 3 PM, and I take photos of the my car with the roll of film 
I Mom give them to bring.  I transfer all my stuff into the Volvo.  I don't 
want it in the truck, because it will just rattle around loose in there.
The battery got run down overnight from a short somewhere in the right
headlamp.   Dave and I manage to push the car up the ramps onto the trailer.
The trailer came with only one tie-dow chain for the rear of the car.
We leave for NYC, with Dave driving the truck, me riding shotgun, Dad
following in the Volvo.  

Things went well, until we got over the George Washington Bridge and onto 
the Cross-Bronx Expressway.  The CBE is in _real_ bad shape and very bumpy.
A car passed us with a guy leaning out the window making frantic motions with
his arms.  I know the chain had got loose, so we got off the nearest exit.
I put the chain back on, but its not real secure, the hook had gotten bent open.

Make it over the Whitestone Bridge and Dave realizes that he really had wanted
the Throggs Neck Bridge, to connect to the Clearview Expwy.  We get off
at Francis Lewis Blvd, and while he figures out what to do, I check the 
hold-down chain.  It had bent open a little more, but I remembered about my
bike's Kryptonite lock-up cable.  I put that on the rear-right holddown
and it seemed more secure.

We finally get the car to the Honda dealer at about 7:15 PM.  Get home at
8 PM, eat some deli, and transfer all my stuff into Mom's Honda wagon she's
letting me borrow  (nice wheels!).  I finally got home about 1 AM Sunday night.
What a long, strange trip its been!  I wanted to get home by Sat. night, so 
I could go to a friend's birthday party he was having at the Boston Beer Works,
followed by going to the Red Sox-White Sox game.  (the game was rained out, but
the party at the BBW was the best rain delay Eric ever had :-)


Now I gotta deal with getting the car fixed somehow.  Bodyshop guy at the Honda
dealer things Metpay is likely to total the car (it has 138K miles).
I want to fix it, it can run another 2 years to 200K miles easily.
It'll be appraised in a few days.

A few inches and a few milliseconds difference in how things happened, and
I wouldn't be writing this today.  I think if I had seen the deer, I probably
would have gone off the road from swerving.  Or it would have hit the fender,
and the fender rubbing the wheel would have made things much worse.
Or if I hit the brakes, the nose of the car would have dipped down, and the 
deer would have gone the windshield.


How does that (paraphased) classic first line from "Moby Dick" go ? 

	Call me Joshua, and I alone survive to tell thee?

    Wierd stuff Josh! Glad yer OK,,, 
    this is one of the reasons I don't like driving at nite
    in the mountains, esp. in spring. Two elk were hit outside of Lake
    George couple of weeks ago, by the same car! Hope all goes well with
    the car, Ifn i was U, I'd let 'em total it!
    
    rfb

    Weird!  Glad you weren't hurt!
    
    What happened to the baby deer?  Was it dead?

    WOW, glad to see you made it, thanks for putting that in.

rfb, I'm very attached to my car!  I'd rather invest a grand or 2 or
3 and get it fixed and drive it 2 more years.  The car I'd replace it with
is the Honda Accord Wagon (same as my Mom's, but the EX version).  Thats
about a 20K car.   After spending 5K on the PC and stuff for my sister,
and DEC stock being so low, I don't want to buy a new car right now!

The (unborn but born via Accord hood) baby deer was just alive, I think, it
twitched slighly when I got it off the back window.

Well, the bright side of this is, if Metpay doesn't total my car, I get to 
have my air conditioning fixed.   Before I left for Columbus, I took it to
a dealer cause it was out of freon.  They put in some freon, sniffed it with
the freon leak detector and told me I needed $750 of repairs, including a
new condenser, tubes and hoses, etc.  The condenser, which in Accords is in
front of the radiator, is quite smashed!  Hell of a way to get insurance to 
pay for fixing my A/C though.  I _don't_ think I'd do it this way again.

Josh

re: .4  -< "why me?" >-

Must be your car-ma.



;-)

- jeff_glad_U're_okay!

    Very intense, Josh.  Glad to hear you're OK, but I'm going to be haunted
    by visions of nearly born deer for the rest of my life.
    
    I figure your life must have been getting boring, so the Higher Power
    decided to spice things up for you.
    
    Car-ma. Yeah.
    
    Bud

	Wow Josh!  That's an amazing story - glad you're OK!

	/Ken
	

yikes, mon, intense!!!!!!!

looks like you might not have to do that timing belt job after all, eh?

>looks like you might not have to do that timing belt job after all, eh?

Not so fast there, JC mon!!!  :-))))))))))

I just got a call from my Mom.  She went to the dealer late this AM to see
what was going on and got there just after the adjuster did, when the shop
has just opened up the hood and started looking in there.

The Results:

Total damages $3555.23, less deductable ($300 for me)!  Car is covered!
They'll have it fixed in 2 weeks!  I'll get it back around the first week
of June!

Actually, the the adjuster doesn't know yet about the U-haul rental ($174),
bridge tolls ($22), or motel room ($40), that will be included in the grand
total.  Blue book on my car is $6350, so I could have smashed up a lot more
of it and still been covered.  Hmmm I could use a new windshield... :-)

 Josh_much_relieved_and_looking_forward_to_relaxing_at_Big_Rock_this_weekend

    well thats good new Josh....takes alot of stress off you Im sure.

alright mon!  we'll have to do the timing belt job then (it is easy on those
accords!!!!! i think anyways...)

good to hear that you're alright, and that the car will get fixed!

scary stuff - i had a dream last night that i hit a deer - thanks a lot! :-/

- rich

    Glad yur okay too!   On a similar note, the night I had my motorcycle
    accident in alabama last May and broke my shoulder, I called my Wife to
    come get me (Because my car is a standard and I couldn't shift it).
    On the way to get me at the hosital (3 hr drive from Atlanta to 
    Alex City AL where I was workin' for DEC) she hit a deer and totalled 
    our car.  (actually a DEC mobile)   That was a rough night !
    
    RS>
    

re                        <<< Note 406.13 by SAHQ::SWITTS >>>

>    Alex City AL where I was workin' for DEC) she hit a deer and totalled 
>    our car.  (actually a DEC mobile)   That was a rough night !


ohh MAN!!!!!  thats sounds like a rough week!

Josh    

    Yep, it was....  thanks Josh....
    
    A friend of mine at the ALF building came in the other day looking like
    he had been in a car wreck.  I asked what happened and this is it;
    
    He was outside working and heard his wife scream for help.  (she had
    falled down the stairs and broke 2 ribs and had a concussion (sp?)) on
    his way to help her he tripped on the edge of his driveway and slammed
    into the pavement, knocking out 2 teeth, fracturing his jaw and his
    right arm !
    
    I don't feel so silly about what happened to me after hearing that !
    
    RS>
    

Well, I finally got my car back on Monday, a coupla days ago.  I went down to
my parents' in NYC on Sunday, went to the dealer/bodyshop in Glen Head, LI.
on Monday.  Car looks fine, runs great as ever.  No engine/steering parts
were touched in the accident anyway.  The bodyshop really screwed up in
some details though:
  - didn't replace the No. 10 fuse: clock, radio, Emissions Control Unit.
  - did not plug back in the connector for the radiator fan thermoswitch!
  - did not notice was broken, and replace, a plastic bracket that holds
	 the 2 oxygen sensor wires up away from the exhaust manifold.
  - did not replace a bolt holding the radiator overflow tank filler tube 
	in place.
I spotted all this inspecting the car, in the parking lot, before leaving the
place.
---------------------
I was kinda spooked when I first was driving my car again.  I kept expecting
to get in another accident - you know how you hear about people who get
their car repaired and then get hit again when driving away from the bodyshop!
---------------------
While my car was getting fixed I had some favorite Dylan songs and albums that 
I liked to listen to :
	Deer Landlord	
	Only a Fawn in Their Game

and of course
	Blood on the Wax

	La Bambi (that old Richie Haven's tune)
	Deer Doctor (Stones)
	Martha, My Deer (Beatles)
	Ain't Got the Doe, Ray, Mi  (old Guthrie tune, I think)

Josh	

    lest one not forget such classics as 
    Deer Prudence
    Desolation Doe

    
    When the Hunter get's Captured by the Game! ;-)

<--------------- I can relate to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys are sick!!!

Fawnicula Fawniculi?

In honor of Phyllis:

. He's Fawn, by Venison Welnick

And by that "seminal proto-punk rock band", the Velvet Underground,

	"Venison in Furs"

    Josh,
    
    	I just got back from a road trip thru the state of Penn. and yikes
    YIKES ! the amount of deer on the side of the highways was unreal.
    kinda like squirrels around here...I spent more time looking for dartin
    deers than speed traps !
    
    Chris

Chris, 

Did you have the good fortune to drive thru PA in the daytime, to be able
to avoid the critters?

Josh

    yes, daytime ! I kept thinking about your story and told Jen that in no
    way would we be driving thru PA after dusk ! 
    
    Chris