Hitting Deer Almost Ruins Day, but for Maria's Attitude
It was bound to happen with all of the traveling we do at dawn and dusk and with all of the hunters stirring up the deer, not to mention the bucks in the rut chasing does; yes, we hit a deer or should we say poor Maria's car hit the deer. We all felt so very sad for the white-tailed doe. But we couldn't believe how calmly and logically Maria handled the accident when her brand new Ford Edge was basically ruined.
We were lucky no one was injured. We were lucky we had two cars. We were lucky we had cell service. The accident happened 6.7 miles south of Armington Junction around 8:30 a.m. We were all really paying attention and Maria driving cautiously as we had already seen several deer near the road and herds of them in the fields. However, the doe jumped out of the bushes right in front of us--no time to brake. The whole front end Maria's white car was smashed with liquids leaking all over. The airbags did not deploy, which we thought a bit odd, given the hard impact. In fact, it was so hard that the passenger door wouldn't open due to the front being pushed back into it. But Maria, Katie and Mary N were completely unhurt. Maria kept insisting that we all go on ahead while she handle insurance etc, but all of us wanted to make sure she wasn't left alone on the side of the highway. Suzie called the highway patrol, while Maria dealt with AAA and her insurance.
Luckily, a Forest Service truck happened along right away and took care of the deer and dragged her way off the roadway, and then they threw the big chunks of the car off the road as well and cleaned up some of the debris; About 45 minutes later, the highway patrol came and then AAA. As we waited, three more deer, including a large buck, also crossed the road in front of our cars, and at different times, so this area must be a main crossing for animals.
Then, after we determined that Maria was safely in the hands of the wrecker, four of us got into Nora's car and decided to go on a modified snowshoe anyway. We got on the road just before 10 a.m.
Since we only had one car and couldn't drop one off for a shuttle as was the original plan to hike from Kings Hill to Silvercrest, Katie decided we would do the same hike except loop back around on the PowerLine trail; however, she didn't mention how "uphill" it would be at the end of the hike. And she missed the O'Brien Creek turn so we got in another half mile and lots of of extra cardio going up, up, up. But everyone handled the slightly longer and harder hike just fine.
We sure missed Maria and thought of her throughout the day, hoping the wrecker ride back to town turned out okay and that her husband wouldn't be too upset about the new car. But Maria kept repeating that a "car is just a 'thing'" emphasizing she wasn't upset about the damage and that she was glad everyone was okay. Instead, she fretted about the deer as we all did.
The day was a gray day, with much wind, but in the 30s, so it was bearable. Overall a nice snowshoe but it could have been a better day. We are thankful that we are all okay.
Who went: Nora, Mary N, Suzie, Katie
We were lucky no one was injured. We were lucky we had two cars. We were lucky we had cell service. The accident happened 6.7 miles south of Armington Junction around 8:30 a.m. We were all really paying attention and Maria driving cautiously as we had already seen several deer near the road and herds of them in the fields. However, the doe jumped out of the bushes right in front of us--no time to brake. The whole front end Maria's white car was smashed with liquids leaking all over. The airbags did not deploy, which we thought a bit odd, given the hard impact. In fact, it was so hard that the passenger door wouldn't open due to the front being pushed back into it. But Maria, Katie and Mary N were completely unhurt. Maria kept insisting that we all go on ahead while she handle insurance etc, but all of us wanted to make sure she wasn't left alone on the side of the highway. Suzie called the highway patrol, while Maria dealt with AAA and her insurance.
Luckily, a Forest Service truck happened along right away and took care of the deer and dragged her way off the roadway, and then they threw the big chunks of the car off the road as well and cleaned up some of the debris; About 45 minutes later, the highway patrol came and then AAA. As we waited, three more deer, including a large buck, also crossed the road in front of our cars, and at different times, so this area must be a main crossing for animals.
Then, after we determined that Maria was safely in the hands of the wrecker, four of us got into Nora's car and decided to go on a modified snowshoe anyway. We got on the road just before 10 a.m.
Since we only had one car and couldn't drop one off for a shuttle as was the original plan to hike from Kings Hill to Silvercrest, Katie decided we would do the same hike except loop back around on the PowerLine trail; however, she didn't mention how "uphill" it would be at the end of the hike. And she missed the O'Brien Creek turn so we got in another half mile and lots of of extra cardio going up, up, up. But everyone handled the slightly longer and harder hike just fine.
We sure missed Maria and thought of her throughout the day, hoping the wrecker ride back to town turned out okay and that her husband wouldn't be too upset about the new car. But Maria kept repeating that a "car is just a 'thing'" emphasizing she wasn't upset about the damage and that she was glad everyone was okay. Instead, she fretted about the deer as we all did.
The day was a gray day, with much wind, but in the 30s, so it was bearable. Overall a nice snowshoe but it could have been a better day. We are thankful that we are all okay.
Who went: Nora, Mary N, Suzie, Katie
| |  Click to enlarge. Red is our route, blue where we were supposed to go. |
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