Monday, November 28, 2011

It Could Have Been SO Much Worse

After the service at Moody Church, we had a wonderful after thanksgiving dinner in Chicago yesterday with our son, his wife, and extended family. Finally, it was time to return to Rockford for my wife, our daughter, and son-in-law. We drove my wife's car because it's better on gas. At around 7:30 PM, on I- 90, I noticed two trucks up ahead on the side of the road. As I signaled and moved away to the next lane, suddenly, with no warning, an entire re-tread from an 18 wheeler lay in the center of my lane.
I've heard many horror stories of people who swerved to avoid a collision like that, resulting in death or serious injuries, and with only about 2 seconds anyway, I chose to take it head on. What a sickening sound. The front of the car rose up, and the huge chunk of rubber rolled under the car and out the back.
Right away we smelled smoke, the fan belt came off, and the temp gauge shot up. But rather than to stop, and since we were so close to our daughter's house in Rockford, we kept driving and made it there.


Later this morning, before the tow truck arrived, I went over and took a few pictures. The damage was a lot less than I thought when we'd looked at it in the dark the night before. So we have another big thing to be thankful for. Then I just got a call with the estimate, and that part won't be as painful as it could have been either.


10 comments:

Sadie and Sophie said...

Yikes, Max! "It's only a car" means so much, doesn't it? So glad you came through it okay.

max said...

Sure does. Thank you.

Sandra Stiles said...

So glad no one was hurt and everything turned out okay. Just goes to show how good God is.

max said...

You're right Sandra

Normandie Fischer said...

So glad you kept your head and the Lord kept hold of you all, Max.

Blessings,
Normandie

max said...

Same here Normandie

Cheryl Linn Martin said...

Wow, Max! My husband has hit a couple random things head-on too. One was a plastic deck chair (must have fallen off someone's truck.) Not fun, but, like you said, when you're on the freeway it's better to just hit the thing and let the damage happen.

So glad everyone is okay--and the car can be fixed!

max said...

I appreciate that Cheryl

Unknown said...

Max, my dad was driving down an interstate a few years ago and a porcelain sink fell off the back of a truck right in front of him. He hit it and of course, his tire blew, but thank goodness (and the Good Lord) nothing worse than that occurred. So glad you're safe and kept your wits about you in those two seconds!

Blessings,
Deb

max said...

Thanks Deb. Even though something like that happens in just seconds, it also goes into slow motion at the same time.