Thursday, October 15, 2009

Count you blessings...

...name them one by one.

#1: To be alive (no really!)
#2: Previous Indiana driving experience

Yesterday was not my best day in the driving world. Well actually is was great in that i missed near death experiences more than once, but bad because i came close to death more than once. First i start off trying to find the license branch to get a new Texas license. I see it on my left so i stop in the suicide lane and wait to turn left. as i sit there i realize there are two place to turn in and so i think to myself "oh it must be the second because it is technically on the right and you always drive on the right." (does that make sense?) so i pull up further and start to turn in. then i realized that is for exiting only. so i stop in the middle of the road on the oncoming traffic side. i think to myself "self? what do i do?" i decided to just do it b/c there were no cars in my way, just as i realized there is a cop in his car sitting in the lot facing me. looking at me. bad idea. so then i swerve back over the right to get back in the suicide lane when a car almost hits me. this all happened in a matter of like 4 seconds. luckily i didnt get hit or pulled over. but i looked like an idiot.
Then i get my new license...(wait for that story) and i am on my way to work. its raining. raining hard. not big drops of rain, but the hard misty rain that literally whites out the world making it hard to see anything more than 10 feet away. those of you from IN know what i am talking about. so i am on the interstate going 5-10 miles under the speed limit. i know from past experience there are 2 rules when you drive in this weather. #1 dont drive too close b/c when brake lights go on you become a little to close for comfort to the car in front of you. #2 never, never slam on your brakes in rain unless it is avoid sure impact with another car. sliding, spinning, hydroplaning, etc will occur. so this car (for whatever reason) had pulled off to the side of the road but hadnt pulled all the way off the road. a few inches of the car were sticking out onto the interstate. (what were they thinking?) i am in the middle lane and there is this Neon a little ahead of me in the right lane. at the same time both the neon and i see this car so uncarefully parked. The neon who is closest to it slams on his brakes and swerves to the left (into my lane). i am not sure i have ever gasped so loud in all my life. the neon could have just moved around the dumb car on the side and stayed in his lane but i am sure it just scared him (coming out of no where). now this neon is sliding toward me sideways. so i slow down and start to move over but there is a car in my way to move over. so i slow down harder. the neon seeing me about to T-bone him again swerves to the right to over correct. WHAT!!!!! never over correct in rain. are you kidding me? so now the neon starts to spin out and now its back end is sliding towards the front of my car. p.s. we are probably going 55 mph when this all occurring. (oh my gosh) so i slow down again and finally get to move over. again this all takes place in a matter of 10 seconds or so. finally the neon gets right and i move as far as possible from him. i was super stressed at that point. i just wanted to be off the road and safe. thank goodness for my past knowledge in driving in rain. Texans dont get it. they just rip around the road in dry weather virtually all year around.

2 comments:

  1. Whoa. Double whoa. I hope you ate some ice cream when you got home.

    It is nice the skills you learn in Indiana, like driving in the rain and snow.

    It was always a bit scary at BYU when the snow or rain came, because people didn't know how to handle it. The Utahns didn't know what to do in the rain, and all the California transplants had no idea what to do in the snow.

    Oh my.

    I am so glad that you avoided both accidents! (And didn't get a ticket. Of Course there was a police officer there!) Such is life. :)

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  2. Oh man Al you know my heart is pounding. I would have cried. You are hott stuff.

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