Accidents Happen

We did indeed leave my parents house on Saturday, Jan 4th, we just didn't make it very far.  About three hours into the drive, we were headed south through Colorado on a divided two lane highway.  It was snowing lightly, but the roads weren't bad.  It was, however, super windy.  The best we can tell, we were simply blown off the road.  Andrew suddenly lost control of the car, we started fishtailing, and before we knew it, we were off the shoulder and down in a ditch.

Most importantly, everyone was fine.  Quite miraculously, actually.  On the right of the car (close enough to have knocked off the passenger mirror) were trees, and immediately to the left was a concrete curb/barrier thing.  Somehow, our car went directly between the two and we were stopped by snow, dirt, and brush.  The airbags didn't even deploy.

A really nice man saw the whole thing and pulled over in his huge truck to help us.  It took close to an hour, but he and Andrew got us towed out of the ditch and back to the shoulder.  You can see here the path our car took down into the ditch.

The car was still running, so the girls and I stayed nice and warm inside.  Eve was very upset because she had to go to the bathroom and there was nowhere to take her.  I had pull-ups on her for the trip, and she had to go in them finally, which was very traumatic for her and resulted in more than a few tears. 

Once we were back on the side of the road, we surveyed the damage and the only noticeable problems with the car were the missing passenger mirror and a flat rear tire.  So Andrew and our good Samaritan changed the tire, then he said he would follow us into the next town so we could get a new tire.

We made it about 50 feet on the road before we realized there was something else wrong with the car - it wouldn't hardly drive and was shaking and veering all over the road.  So we pulled back over (and so did the super nice guy) and called for a tow truck. 

About four hours later, one finally arrived.  We were in kind of a remote area and it was hard for them to find someone to come get us.  But this whole time, now hours after the accident, the car had continued to run, so we had heat and DVDs for the girls to watch.  They were definitely hungry, though!

The tow truck towed us backwards about an hour and dropped us at a Dodge dealership in Limon, CO.  This was only about two hours from my parents house, so my dad very kindly drove out and picked us up. 

What a day!  Our brave little car kept us all safe and warm the whole time.  When my dad arrived, we left the car at the dealership (they weren't going to open until Monday), and immediately headed to pick up some food.  It was probably 8pm by this time, about 7 hours since the accident. 

Doesn't look too bad, does it?  We were hopeful that it could be repaired quickly....

It was around 11pm when we finally got back to Broomfield.  We unloaded the car, had birthday ice cream cake with the family for Genevieve's birthday, then hit the hay.  We were exhausted.

Given the circumstances, we had few options available to us.  We didn't want to leave the state without our car, but I could not miss work on Monday.  So regrettably, we decided that Andrew and the girls would wait in Broomfield for the car to get fixed and I would fly home alone on Sunday so I could get back to work.

Eve and Halle didn't mind some extra time with grandma!

And Uncle Evan!

One last picture of our family before our parting....

They may not be sad, but I was!  I've never been away from them!

It was really hard to be separated, and my plane was delayed which only made things worse.  I got home around 1am on Monday morning, in time for a few hours of sleep before an early morning at work.  Andrew found out from the dealership when they opened that morning and saw our car that it was likely totaled.  By Wednesday morning, the insurance company confirmed that it was totaled.  So Andrew rented a car and made the long drive home with the girls.  Smartly, he broke it into a two day drive.

With a stop at McDonalds on one of the days!

So my family finally made it home on Thursday - and I was happy to see them!  Unfortunately, Halle had forgotten me.  She freaked out if I tried to hold her and would scream and cry for Andrew.  That was sad :(  She got over it by the next day.

We feel so blessed in this whole experience to have been safe and protected.  We needed to upgrade to a bigger car anyway before May, this just sped up our timeline a bit.  I'm just sad I didn't get to say goodbye to my faithful little Dodge!  I've had that car for 6 1/2 years and it's seen me through some good times - so long, old friend, and thank you!