If I never had such an eventful "adventure" again, it will be too soon.It started on Sunday morning, as I spent 20 minutes trying to find a parking space before church. I am not opposed to bumper-kissing (when I have a bumper), but with all the St. Paddy's day reveling, spaces just weren't there. I should have walked.
I planned on leaving around 12.30, so that I would be in Louisville with plenty of time to get student rush tickets, even remembering the time zone change. Left a couple minutes late, enjoying a beautiful clear day, and the first road trip in a couple of months. Got on to the feeder ramp that splits in two directions for 90/94. Since the Dan Ryan is a perpetual nightmare, it was already backed up on the ramp. The car ahead of me slowed down; I slowed down; the guy behind me didn't. The force of him hitting me forced me into the car ahead of me. She stopped. I stopped. He stopped, blocking traffic. She got out of the car to glare, I called 911, he heckled drivers.
My accident happened within sight of the Trib distribution office, on a bridge, nearish the train tracks.
When the state patrol arrived, they brought a tow truck (his car looked bad, the horn was stuck, and the air bag had deployed.) By now I had gotten out of the car to talk to the other woman. She and I were both OK, if a little jangled and stiff.
Because we were causing traffic to back up even further, we were told to follow a police escort to a safe site (there is no shoulder here). Sirens went. Lady went. I went. He bailed. There was some confusion about my license (VA with multiple addresses). But the focus was definitely on Mr. Hit-n-Run. Fortunately the woman I hit took down his license plate.
It caused me great pain to watch the tow truck driver rip what was left of my bumper off. The front bumper is cracked; the hood is wonky; and the trunk sounds loose. However, I was able to drive it back home, only to try to restart my trip.
My major score against the Cosmic Muffin was securing a rental car on a Sunday. Even in a major metropolitan area, this was a major feat, as most locations were either closed or sold-out. Or crazy expensive. So I finally laid out the sob story, and a woman at Hertz took pity on me. I didn't even have to get out to an airport!
The drive was long, but not impossible. I had to drive right past my accident site, which was a little unnerving, especially since I still saw bits of my car on the side. I was really dehydrated, since I couldn't fit my Nalgene bottle in either of my bags. And Indiana is not hip on the Odwalla. One place on my neck was/is a little stiff, but I keep telling myself it's the wrong place for whiplash, it's probably just the stress of driving and dealing, and it's not like I have the time or insurance to visit an ER to have them give me an ice pack and send me home again. But I arrived in Bloomington about 5 hours later in one very tired piece.
Then I got to reckon with the EconoLodge...
on Pandora: "You're All I've Got Tonight (Live)" - The Cars
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