It’s Not My Time Apparently

Thursday was supposed to be the start of a “Girls Adventure Weekend”. An old friend of mine from high school (I’ll call her MH) and I decided about a month ago to plan a weekend of all girls going to Moab for mountain biking, rock climbing and hiking. Originally we had invited 8 or so girls to join us. For whatever reasons most people either couldn’t come or cancelled the week before. MH an I were going to go regardless, we figured even with the two of us we would have a great adventure. I had just picked up my new mountain bike on Saturday and she had a new road bike she was dying to try out on the open dessert roads of Utah. We also were excited to do a little rock climbing together since we had learned the sport together 20 years ago. In fact we figured out last time we had camped together was 18 years ago and we had to lie to our parents in order to go camping together, well MAYBE there were some boys involved too…(uh, sorry mom and dad if you are reading this…)


(MH and I Thursday morning in Idaho Springs, yes it is snowing and yes this is May 15. Typical Colorado spring day)


Thursday we had an adventure all right, one I don’t care to relive.

We had decided to meet up at the Morrison exit on I-70 since it was the half-way point between the towns we live in. MH’s boyfriend was gracious enough to let us borrow his Toyota Tundra. We packed it full. My new bike was inside the truck, bolted onto the bed, while MH’s mountain bike and road bike were on the tail hitch rack. We had enough camping gear for a small army. We took our scouting lessons well, we were prepared…

The weather was very odd, I had driven through snow to get to Denver and we could tell it was snowing in the mountains. As we headed up I-70 west bound we encountered a freak snow storm and even had a small delay while the state patrol cleaned up an accident near Chief Hosa exit. After we passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel, the sky cleared up and it was the most magnificent blue you could imagine. I told MH the story of the time I came speeding out of the tunnel to find a blizzard and ice and me driving way too fast. I spun out of control and almost wrecked, but didn’t. Ever since then I do not speed in that area. She was driving and I remember looking at the speedometer. We were going 65 mph. Our conversation switched to the scenery again, the Old 97’s were playing on the stereo, and we commented about how beautiful it was to our left. She glanced to the left to look at the sky.

The truck started to veer to the left towards the guardrail.

MH went to correct it…

Last thing I remember was crossing three lanes of traffic and thinking “oh *****, here we go”.

Next thing I felt was my arm covering my face and feeling A LOT of dirt and rocks hitting my arm, face, body. It felt like a roller coaster ride. I think we flipped twice…

What felt like an eternity, but really was probably less than 5 seconds. We had wrecked.

Bad.

When we stopped moving, I remember both of us saying at the same time “are you ok?…Are you okay?” then MH saying “T, Look at me”—I looked at her and was okay. I had some blood on my face, and hands, she had blood on her hands, but surprisingly… We both were REALLY okay.

There are two things I will never forget as long as I live. The feeling of the ground hitting my arm and dirt falling into my lap, and the look on the ladies face that was running up to the car yelling “hello,hello, Can anyone hear me?” as I crawled out of the passenger seat. She had seen the accident and didn’t expect to find anyone conscious, much less getting out of the truck on their own accord.

The truck was beyond totaled. We took out three trees. I would post a picture but my camera is nowhere to be found. It is somewhere on that mountainside. My bike was hanging in a tree 20 feet up the mountain. My copper link bracelet was ripped from my wrist. Later MH found it after the tow truck drivers pulled the truck away. It was under the truck, clasp still attached but a welded link gone.

Today I am nursing some major bruises and some nasty cuts on my hand and wrist and small glass cuts on my face. MH has bruises on her sternum from the steering wheel and a swollen finger. I am sure she has random bruises over her body too.

We are alive.

I took a picture of the truck with my phone that was smashed, but worked a little bit. (I have since gotten a new phone) I showed the picture to E and he is surprised we lived. I showed E my bike and he was as sad as I was to see her die such an early death. I had only two short rides on her. I wouldn’t even say she had a maiden flight yet…

Friday E was in Summit County for work so he went to look at the truck. After seeing it first hand he was even more amazed that we survived. Even the emergency response people were shocked to see us walking, talking, being somewhat cognitive, even though we both were in shock.

I keep reminding myself. I survived a rollover accident on I-70 and I am alive. That was the best day EVER!

MH’s boyfriend however is not too pleased about his truck. Um, sorry ‘bout that…

Have I mentioned we are alive and ok? My career as a hand model is certainly never going to happen and it hurts to type this…but I am here. That makes me the happiest girl in the world!

MH got pictures, when she uploads them I’ll post one or two. In the meantime I am going to go sit in the sun and enjoy the fact it is not yet my time.

We.walked.away.from.this

UPDATE: Pics are in and as you can see they are now posted...Also, it is suspected that I have a small fracture in my right hand, off to UrgentCare I go...