Crasymaker

So I head down to the Enterprise rental location nearest to my house yesterday to pick up my temporary replacement vehicle and the entire time I’m thinking, “Please don’t let it be a) a Geo Metro or b) something in a really bright, ugly color.”

I guess that was asking too much because the only thing they had available was a bright blue Dodge Avenger. Awesome. The best (read: worst) part about having to drive this ridiculous car around town until my vehicle is repaired is the fact that it’s brand new and doesn’t even have a license plate yet. Why is that, you may ask?

Because without a license plate, it looks like I just bought the damn thing for myself. So if ya’ll see some dumbass driving around town in one of these things, don’t worry. It’s just me.

I was rounding a corner on I540 this afternoon on my way back to work from lunch when I hear this awful bang and immediately feel my car being lunged forward. As I turn to the left, I see a pickup truck spinning around and then it comes banging into the side of me again, only this time I start spinning myself.

At this point, I am spinning out of control down the middle of the highway at 70MPH and I’m thinking that at any moment the wheels are going to catch and I’m going to start rolling down the highway and off the embankment and probably die. I swear, it took long enough for me to actually think about all that. Talk about freaky.

Somehow, the wheels didn’t catch (probably because it had been raining) and after what seemed like about 5 or 6 spins, I came to a stop in the middle of the road. I then realize that I am sitting sideways across both lanes and I am staring straight into traffic. Cars were coming around the corner, seeing me, and then swerving out of the way on either side of me. It was pretty intense. I couldn’t get my car started so I put it in neutral and it slowly rolled to the side of the road.

After forcing my door open, I noticed a pickup truck sitting at the bottom of the ravine and that it was smashed into a small tree. There was a lady standing next to it and I yelled at her to see if she was OK. She yelled back that she was fine and asked me the same thing. She said her apologies and told me she just lost control of her car. She didn’t seem drunk or anything so I assume that since it was drizzling a little, maybe she was right. I called the cops and a state trooper showed up about 15 minutes later. Now I have to wait to hear from the lady’s insurance agent to see about having my car fixed.

I’m still really shaken up and it happened about 4-5 hours ago. I think I might have nightmares about it tonight. I can safely say that it was easily the most terrifying moment of my life so far.

I’ve never been in a wreck that requiries me to wait around for some other insurance agent to call me and then go through the process of having an adjuster come out. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions so that I don’t get screwed out of a proper repair job? I feel pretty clueless about the whole ordeal.

I feel really, really lucky that I am alright. I can’t imagine how much worse off I’d be if I had been riding my motorcycle. In fact, I’m not sure how long it might take to get up the nerve to ride it after this. There was truly nothing I could’ve done to avoid the accident since I was hit from behind with no warning at all. Being in my car saved my life, I suppose. Being on my motorcycle would probably have resulted in my instant death. That’s pretty hard to swallow right now.

If you want to be as much of a dweeb as I am, then check out some more photos of my new 2006 Honda Element.

I’ve been looking at Honda Elements for a long time now but those plastic bumpers and side panels have always rubbed me the wrong way. This year, however, there’s a new one called the Element EX-P that is all metal and all one color. Well, it’s X-mas bonus season and when the airbag and horn went out on my Saturn yesterday, I couldn’t resist driving over to the Honda dealership. Needless to say, I drove off in a brand new Element.

• 2.4-liter, 16-valve, DOHC i-VTEC® 4-cylinder engine
• 156 hp @ 5500 rpm, 160 lb.-ft. @ 4500 rpm
• 4-speed automatic transmission
• 4-wheel disc brakes
• Immobilizer Theft-Deterrent System
• Steering wheel-mounted audio controls
• Redesigned 16″ alloy wheels
• Dual power side mirrors
• Dual-stage, dual-threshold front airbags (SRS)
• Front side airbags w/ passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS)
• Cruise control
• Power front windows with auto-up/down driver’s window
• Power door and tailgate locks
• Real Timeâ„¢ 4-wheel drive
• Removable skylight with tilt feature
• Anti-lock braking system (ABS)
• Electronic Brake Distribution system (EBD)
• MP3/auxiliary input jack
• 270-watt AM/FM/CD audio system with MP3/WMA playback capability and 7 speakers including a 6.5″ patented DLP subwoofer
• XM® Satellite Radio