Snow, Ice and Near Death

We got a massive ice storm here yesterday. Lots and lots of accidents shown on the news station's Facebook page. Todd was at work last night, though he knows how to drive on slick roads. Even with it only being a mile away in an SUV with brand new tires, it took him a half hour to get home.

All of this took me back to a time when I was a complete dumb ass about snow and ice, and nearly got myself killed.

Todd and I were living in Bay City, Michigan at the time. It was a Sunday and I had spent the day in Mount Pleasant watching the Daytona 500 with a friend. Todd had called me and told me that the snow was starting and I should get going. But I dawdled and left much later than I should have.

At the time, I was driving my VW New Bug. I had bought the car in the springtime and didn't take into account that it was super low to the ground and therefore not ideal for traveling in the snow.

I took it slow and the trip from Mount Pleasant, which normally only takes about an hour, took forever. Even going slow, I was sliding a lot. I was on the highway and just at my exit when I slid into a snowbank just off the road.

I started doing the go forward, go backward thing to unstick myself. I had been doing this for a few minutes when I looked in my rear view mirror. There was a semi bearing down on me, and I knew the driver wasn't in total control of his rig.

Just at that moment, I got unstuck and I gunned it a little to get out of the semi's path. I knew in my heart that if he had hit me, I would have been dead. The rest of the drive home, I sobbed my eyes out. I have never been so scared in my life.

Todd comforted me when I got home, but in typical Todd fashion he also told me that I should have listened to him. I agreed - I had been totally dumb for not listening to him and leaving sooner before the roads got so bad.

Since moving to NC nearly 10 years, I haven't had much chance to drive on icy roads. We don't get a lot of snow and when we do, things shut down. I usually just stay inside, especially since I started working from home.

Today I'm glad to be inside and not on the icy roads. I wouldn't want to have a repeat of that scary night all those years ago.

How a Fair Ride Nearly Killed Me

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/

I was reading the Illustrated with Crappy Pictures blog today and it was about an outing they went on to a county fair. It was a sweet post about seeing animals and accidentally eating prized tomatoes. I used to go to the Ottawa County Fair every year when I was a kid, but the last time I went I had a horrifying experience.

When I would go to the fair, I would go to ride on the rides. There was usually a set price you could pay to ride unlimited rides, so I usually got that. I was home for the summer from college one year when my mom and I went to the fair.

My mom and I rode everything that day. I’m not much of a thrill junkie but the rides at the fair are usually pretty tame. I had ridden the pirate ship before so I didn't think anything of it when my mom and I got in line. I was in for the most terrifying ride of my life.

The ride started out normally enough, but the guy running the ride let it swing further and further. I really thought we were going to actually turn upside down. My mom was great and held it together for me and another girl who was on the ride alone.

Finally the terror stopped and the ride was over. I couldn't get off of their fast enough. Once we were on solid ground, my mom admitted that she had been scared too. My mom was a bit of a thrill junkie and wasn't afraid of anything. So that made me feel cold all over to think my mom thought we were going to get hurt too.

To this day, I refuse to ride on the pirate ship no matter where it’s at. Just seeing a pirate ship ride like that makes me feel anxious and scared. I’ll ride roller coasters and other scary ride, but no pirate ships. Never again!