As you know, Adam and I are back from a wonderful vacation in a place that is far, far away from our home in Lansing.
We headed home Saturday, rather earlier than expected because it was raining like the dickens and there was no reason to stick around stuck inside. We were heading south on US 127 and I was having a particularly bad bout of cramps. It's a great time of the month. Awesome. Hmph.
Anyway, we were driving into a rather nasty looking storm and I was bent over the dashboard throwing myself a little pity party when my rarely vulgar husband says, "Holy Shit!"
I look up just in time to watch a green four door pick up truck that was heading north on US 127 roll over three or four times into the median.
I, of course, yell, "OH MY GOD STOP THE CAR! STOP THE CAR!"
I threw my phone at Adam and tell him to call 911 and I got out of the car.
(I am a professional rescuer first aid and CPR certified so it is required by law that I stop and help)
I ran over to the truck, now probably about a tenth of a mile back. Two other people had made it there first (one I think was a mechanic and another who I think was a man of the cloth). I ask if everyone is ok, identify myself and ask if I can help.
Fortunately, everyone was alive and mostly just shaken up. You have no idea how glad I was to see that. Our first aid kit was buried in the trunk with our camping gear and I fear it would have taken far too long to get to it had we really needed it.
The sweet elderly lady in the back seat bore the brunt of everything, I think, because she was with all of the things that were loose, the cooler, towels, etc. I stayed with her and just held her hand trying to keep her from moving too much until the ambulance could get there and check her out. She didn't appear to have any life threatening injuries, but you can't be too safe.
The mechanic man checked the truck as best he could while preacher man prayed and I stayed with Betty.
Eventually, the police arrived, the ambulance and the tow truck. I headed back to Adam and the car when one of the other gentlemen who stopped ran over and asked if we had a cell he could use, because in the rush to get to the people in the accident, he and his wife locked their keys in the car!
He got ahold of AAA and he thanked us and ran back to his wife and car.
We managed to get back on the road shortly after that and get home with no further incident. I hope that everything was much less exciting for that family for the rest of the day, and they got to go to the Bridge and meet up with their friends.
As far as we could tell, it was dry south of the storm and so they drove into a straight line of ferocious storms and down pouring rain. Then, we think, the truck hydroplaned, then began to spin out on the road (this is what prompted the 'holy shit' from Adam) and maybe hit the rumble strips or just the weight of the truck caused it to flip end over end (when I looked up) then several barrel rolls ending up, upright, in the center of the median. Yikes, it happened so fast. I cannot imagine experiencing that, but I am so glad that those three people came through it alive.
Far more exciting day than I think any of us expected.
Safe travels, friends, safe travels.
We headed home Saturday, rather earlier than expected because it was raining like the dickens and there was no reason to stick around stuck inside. We were heading south on US 127 and I was having a particularly bad bout of cramps. It's a great time of the month. Awesome. Hmph.
Anyway, we were driving into a rather nasty looking storm and I was bent over the dashboard throwing myself a little pity party when my rarely vulgar husband says, "Holy Shit!"
I look up just in time to watch a green four door pick up truck that was heading north on US 127 roll over three or four times into the median.
I, of course, yell, "OH MY GOD STOP THE CAR! STOP THE CAR!"
I threw my phone at Adam and tell him to call 911 and I got out of the car.
(I am a professional rescuer first aid and CPR certified so it is required by law that I stop and help)
I ran over to the truck, now probably about a tenth of a mile back. Two other people had made it there first (one I think was a mechanic and another who I think was a man of the cloth). I ask if everyone is ok, identify myself and ask if I can help.
Fortunately, everyone was alive and mostly just shaken up. You have no idea how glad I was to see that. Our first aid kit was buried in the trunk with our camping gear and I fear it would have taken far too long to get to it had we really needed it.
The sweet elderly lady in the back seat bore the brunt of everything, I think, because she was with all of the things that were loose, the cooler, towels, etc. I stayed with her and just held her hand trying to keep her from moving too much until the ambulance could get there and check her out. She didn't appear to have any life threatening injuries, but you can't be too safe.
The mechanic man checked the truck as best he could while preacher man prayed and I stayed with Betty.
Eventually, the police arrived, the ambulance and the tow truck. I headed back to Adam and the car when one of the other gentlemen who stopped ran over and asked if we had a cell he could use, because in the rush to get to the people in the accident, he and his wife locked their keys in the car!
He got ahold of AAA and he thanked us and ran back to his wife and car.
We managed to get back on the road shortly after that and get home with no further incident. I hope that everything was much less exciting for that family for the rest of the day, and they got to go to the Bridge and meet up with their friends.
As far as we could tell, it was dry south of the storm and so they drove into a straight line of ferocious storms and down pouring rain. Then, we think, the truck hydroplaned, then began to spin out on the road (this is what prompted the 'holy shit' from Adam) and maybe hit the rumble strips or just the weight of the truck caused it to flip end over end (when I looked up) then several barrel rolls ending up, upright, in the center of the median. Yikes, it happened so fast. I cannot imagine experiencing that, but I am so glad that those three people came through it alive.
Far more exciting day than I think any of us expected.
Safe travels, friends, safe travels.