Say it isn't so...and it wasn't even my fault.
Last night we were heading down to St. George to "beat the storm" the news said would hit Thursday morning (when we had originally planned on going). We were at Target returning a few things when the storm started to get worse. I had the gut feeling to drive a few hrs to get ahead of the storm and then stop for dinner, but since it was already 7pm, we chose to eat then.
When we got on the road, it was still rain/snow mix. We were heading south in the carpool lane just passing the Kaysville exit when some "nice" person who must not have seen us or didn't care we were there, decided to be illegal and swerve into our lane...over the double white lines. We tried honking and brighting the guy but he continued to come over. Of course in hindsight the smart thing would have been to just take my foot off the gas, but my reaction was to hit the brakes to avoid being hit by this "nice" person. We either hydroplaned on water or hit black ice which caused us to slam right into the huge concrete wall barrier. We were so in shock we just sat there while the "nice" guy who caused our accident drove off in the night without a care in the world.
I thought we had just ruined the mirror but when we tried to drive, we didn't get very far. We got out in the inch of water to change the flat tire we thought we had. But the tires were fine so we tried to continue on again. No go! The weather was getting worse and we were sitting ducks to other drivers in the bad weather so we called 911 and highway patrol came to save us. 2 officers closed the freeway behind us, while 1 other officer followed us off to the rest stop about a mile away. I cried the whole way about wrecking the car, while J, the loving and rational one, soothed me that we weren't dead. It was slow going but we finally made it to safety.
While we waited for the tow truck to come, we filled out the accident report. The highway patrol wanted the other guys license plate so he could be reprimanded, but of course it was hidden by the snow. I do know it was a 4-door, white sedan so watch out for him! Finally the tow truck arrived and our saving grace, Jason, came to rescue us from the storm. He helped get all our luggage into his car and drove us safely back to our house. When we arrived we went to unlock our doors only to realize we left ALL the keys on the ring we gave the tow truck driver...and he put them in the dropbox. No way to retrieve them. I thought Mom and Dad had a spare but they didn't. I did get some loving support and guidance from them before I left their house, which helped me thru the night. So our saving grace again, Jason and Dawn, put us up for the night.
Thru the adrenaline, we were feeling fine. Now, I am in pain mostly on my left hip...though having all this padding I am sure helped my injuries not be worse! I hit my head on the window so I have some minor whiplash and headache, bruising across my chest from my seatbelt, a little back pain, and then a "wet-coke" bottom. Justin had turned around during the crash to shield the kids so he has some back, knee, and neck pain and bruising across his chest from his seatbelt. Ry hit her arm on the window, Kenna got a little bruise across her chest from her seatbelt,and Rhett got a seatbelt burn across his neck, but all the kiddos are acting fine and normal.
I consider ourselves super lucky. Hitting a concrete wall at 55 mph, we didn't sustain many injuries. Especially when I've seen cars that have been totalled doing much less. J even said that when he saw us heading toward the wall, we were aiming head on. So somehow I managed to turn the wheel just enough to hit the left side. So my car is pretty much intact, the air bags didn't deploy so no major front end damage that we know of, no icons came on in the dash so I think everything under the hood is ok, and nothing is falling off the car. We have pretty good insurance so our deductible is low. I just hope it falls into the category of fixable, and not totalled.
A special Thank You to those who helped in our time of desperation and need. You'll never know what you mean to us knowing we are cared for and loved. I hope this accident was meant for us to not get hurt worse off later on in the drive with the way the weather was, and not because I didn't listen to the Holy Ghost about driving first and eating later...if thats what that gut feeling was. I know it was a humbling experience of how it can happen to me, but also that we are safe and walked away from the accident. I truly love my Savior and I am so grateful he was watching out for us!
The worse of the damage. The front end is out of line but the hood still closes fine so I hope they can fix it.
The front end scratch damage
The 2nd worse damage. The force knocked the axle against the rear of the tire well
The mirror still hanging on for dear life. The base of the mirror is still intact just the end broke off
Rear passenger door a little out of line but door still closes fine
Rear scratch damage
