Goldie's Eulogy

Goldie at the time of acquisition

While Goldie didn't get the funeral nor the resting place she deserved for all her faithful service to our vagabond life, let me at least eulogize her memory and express my heartfelt gratitude for every mountain she climbed while encumbered by that blasted trailer dragging down her V-8 power.  She rather liked the bikes; she thought they made her dashing.  She conquered every mountain summit without a hint of complaint, even the mighty Berthoud Pass which was over 11,000 feet at its saddle.

There were many places in the middle of the proverbial 'nowhere' in which Goldie could have stranded us, but with her innate sense of loyalty and service to the Smith Family Adventure Club, she never did.  Nor did she find the logging road up, up and up, around and around Mount Sauk in Washington State beyond her capabilities even though she asked us to at least turn off the friggin' AC while she was working so hard.

Bombed with snow by a freak October snowstorm in New Hampshire

I know she appreciated being lovingly maintained both inside and out by her Main Operator even when maintenance conditions weren't optimal.  Her exterior was pristine until I managed to back her into tree branches in Berkeley which scratched her side right down to the metal.  She never said a word, nor indicated her pride had suffered; she knew I was doing the best job I could.  She refused to fold up, crumple and leak radiator fluid when that rude little deer jumped on her in French Canada.  She knew I didn't know all those auto words to try and talk to a French auto mechanic.

Finally, I want to publicly thank her for saving my and Main Operator's lives.  She offerred herself up for us.  Airbag deployment wasn't lightly taken on her part since it meant her own demise.  Because of her sacrifice, we suffered aches, pains, bruises and one slight burn to Main Operator's hand instead of broken bones, internal and external bleeding, concussion and coma.  Sadly, sadly, we mourn losing her.

However, life goes on.  We will be resuming the slightly wacky, sometimes entertaining, and always novel peripatetic show of the Smith Traveling Adventure & Vagabond Club with a new partner.  Meet Hi Ho Silver.  It's going to take some adjustment to have a male partner joining the club, but with his sleek silver paint, two toned leather and suede seats, together with his class IV towing package and Hemi 5.71 V-8 engine, this powerful Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited horse of a vehicle is hopefully going to live up to his specifications.  He's got big shoes to fill, but Main Operator thinks he's up to the challenge.

Hi Ho Silver and his Main Operator

Main Operator schooling Hi Ho Silver

   

    

In the Blink of an Eye

Since 2008 I've known one's life can change instantly.  That was the year my mother died, and I realized my father was suffering from pretty advanced dementia.  We had about 18 months of putting our heads down and slogging through a series of problems and heartaches before we could right the ship of our own lives.  Every major event in one's life give new perspective.  In a real way, my mother and brothers' deaths as well as my father's living death has shaped the last eight years of the choices Drake and I have made.

Well.... last Friday we had another one of those life can change in the blink of an eye experiences.  First, it was a fabulous day.  We had just come out of Zion National Park, without a doubt one of the most beautiful parts in America.  As faithful blog readers you will just have to wait for the pictures, and I'll tell you why in a minute.

We got a call from our daughter just after she walked OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!!!  She was actually invited to the WHITE HOUSE, yes, the real one, for a meeting with 50 other people.  We stopped in Page, Arizona to talk to her, and as we talked we were jumping around on the sidewalk, and saying things like "really" and "did you talk".  I'm sure the citizens of Page thought we were crazy.

Getting back in the car, we were on our way to Flagstaff where we were spending the night. Our destination was the Twin Arrows Casino for a little afternoon gambing action entertainment since we couldn't get our October Prescott house until 3pm the next afternoon.  We'd just spend Friday night in Flagstaff, drive the 100 miles or so to Prescott and get the keys to the rented house in Prescott.

We won $180 in three hours!  Sweet!!!!  Drake so loves to play blackjack, and he's such a terrific player, it's nice seeing him rewarded.  For the record, I did win $80 of that booty, but we've always counted our wins and losses as a net together.  Since we few gambling as entertainment not a money making proposition, keeping track is just score keeping for us.  Then, we decided to have a nice steak dinner, and  head to our hotel for the night.  We were taking possession of our Prescott house for our month's rental on Saturday afternoon.

It was 8 pm when we were closing in on the hotel, and I was looking at my GPS realizing we'd just missed the turn for our hotel.  CRASH, BAM, BANG, SCREECH.  It took me a minute to realize we'd been in an accident, and then I heard running and screaming and someone saying, "Are you hurt?  We need to get you out of this car."  Physically and mentally Drake and I were both in shock.  It took me over an hour to figure out exactly what happened.

A newbie 16 year old girl driver was in the left hand turn lane facing us as we were driving through the intersection.  She decided a blinking yellow caution light meant, 'Hurry up!  My light is going to turn red." instead of yield.  So, she accelerated turning left through the intersection while we were sailing through it at about 35 mph on our green light.  She was too new of a driver to check and see if someone was coming through the intersection before she turned.  The upshot was she wrapped her small coupe around the front of our SUV.  Everybody's airbag deployed, and the bystanders, of which there were quite a few, were shocked by the violence of the collision and couldn't believe no one hurt enough to go immediately to a hospital.

I got the brunt of the collision, but Drake got the airbag injury

In other words, we all walked away from the collision.  It was so very, very fortunate the little girl didn't pick up a buddy for her quick trip to Walmart because that child would have been killed.  The passenger side of her car was completely crushed.  I'm so grateful that 16 year old wasn't really injured and didn't have to live with hurting someone else.  That said...

There's no way an insurance company pays value for a Drake Smith 2003 creampuff car.  He's just had the transmission rebuilt as well as did some other expensive work to keep a 13 year old car running to peak.  We've realized for years we would take a bath if we wrecked the Aviator.  And, yes, the car was totalled, and we will take a bath.

We stood around on the street corner for three hours after the accident while the police gathered info. Four witnesses said not only was the girl at fault, she actually accelerated into us!  It took the tow drivers an hour to figure out how to get the cars apart and clean up the intersection.

Since Friday night, we've realized what pro football players feel like the day after a game.  Basically, I hurt from the bottom of my ears to the top of my tailbone.  My sternum and breasts are bruised from the seat belt, and my nose is sore, but not broken from the airbag.  Drake has a chemical burn that covers the entire back of one hand from the airbag.  Yesterday, seven days after the accident, both of my hands started hurting.

On Saturday, we managed to rent a 15 foot truck to tow our miraculously undamaged cargo trailer.  We then went to the tow yard to clear out the Aviator, and, oh, when I called the agent who rented us the Prescott house and explained what happened, her reaction as, "Does that mean you'll be late to pick up the keys?"  You know, what I really, really didn't need was a house in Prescott right now, but her complete lack of compassion will come back on her.  That kind of person always gets her comeuppance sooner or later.  What goes around comes around.  We then drove to Prescott from Flagstaff and picked up our keys - on time.

Sunday, we sorted out our belongings and realized what we needed to do was use the big truck to tow the trailer back to Sun City, unload it and drop it there. Meanwhile, Jay and Sarah were flying in for the family wedding (which precipitated the Prescott house rental in the first place) on Thurday night in Phoenix.  We left Sunday and drove to Sun City, and unloaded the trailer - boy, that helped those sore muscles.  Yes, that was sarcastic irony.

Monday,  we took the trailer to Drake's sister's house, rented a car, returned the truck, and started shopping for cars.  Tuesday, we spent 5 hours at the Emergency Room - peak day for pain for both of us.  We were x-rayed and cat scanned.  They were particularly afraid my sternum was cracked.  Fortunately, all is pretty well, but I have a follow-up appointment.

On the upside, we managed to get a car bought on Thursday - a 2010 Grand Jeep Cherokee, Limited with a class 4 tow package.  We attended the Prescott wedding which was a real wanted spot of fun, and we managed to get Drake's mother's party in Phoenix at 'the home' pulled together and pulled off to her delight.

Slowly, life is returning to normal since we were unexpectly tossed about like fruit salad.  Surprisingly to me, both Drake and I have been having PTSD like symptoms with disturbed sleep, irritability, driving fears and other indications that this incident has also had a mental toll.  On the physical side,  I now know where all my arthritis is located.  Woo Hoo!  And on a positive note, nine days after the accident, my sleep was uninterrupted last night for the first time since it happened.  This too will pass, and it's great fortune a little girl will not have to live with dire consequences of a foolish driving mistake.