...but snow packed on the highway midline had warmed and melted and the road was a bit damp during the day and while we played, the temperature dropped and the highway glazed over with black ice.
We slid a long way, gradually turning into the snow packed shoulder. Then we rolled 1 1/2 times and stopped, upside down. At the bottom of a steep hill. Out of sight of traffic. Right next to a big tree.
I just rolled Little Blue! She was 10 years old and just over 130K miles. She protected me and my hungry 2 1/2 year old, who was buckled in his carseat and asking for fruit snacks and cereal and a quesadilla for dinner.
I knew I wasn't hurt. And I knew Lincoln wasn't hurt because he wasn't silent or crying hysterically. Instead, Linc was complain/crying because he was upside down. As soon as he was unbuckled and upright, he started asking to get out of the car. He had been playing a lego train app on my phone, so I had no idea where it was in the disorientation of sitting on the ceiling with a carseat above our heads.
Thankfully, the rear passenger door (on the treeside) was free of snow and opened easily. So I didn't bother to look for my phone. I knew there would be traffic; a woman with a small child would surely be able to flag down some help. I left everything but Lincoln and climbed up the steep, snowy bank to the highway.
There was a wide turnout just across the highway, so we crossed the road to be a safe distance from traffic. We had to wait a few minutes, but the very first truck to go by turned around and offered help. I used her phone to call the police and then James. James had just clocked out, so he called Grandma (who was 1/2 a mile away) and she came to get Lincoln.
The officer arrived just about the same time as Grandma and he and I skated across the highway and climbed down to the car to collect stuff. He found my phone. It was underneath a floormat on the ceiling directly under Linc's carseat. James and Linc's other carseat arrived just after we got back up to the highway so Grandma took Linc home to feed him dinner while I finished up with the officer. James and the Branch President inspected the wreckage and collected more stuff.
The officer recommended leaving the car overnight and arranging for a 'boom' truck to haul it up in the daylight. That's what we did. All the pictures are from Saturday (Mar 1) and the big relocation. Little Blue is currently at a branch member's property until the insurance company decides what to do next.
Lincoln has been telling me all day that ...Mommy's car is broken... and we need to ...fix Mommy's car...
I have a few bruises and my seatbelt shoulder is pretty sore, but mostly I'm embarrassed and grateful and sad and mad at myself. Lincoln seems uninjured and unemotional. :) I think my Guardian Angel and Lincoln's have been working overtime lately.
RIP Little Blue (1/2004-2/28/2014)
RIP Little Blue (1/2004-2/28/2014)
