jimmybuttons.blogspot.com: October 2007

3am off-ramp from I-95 to I-26, somewhere in south carolina.

as we entered the highway, our half-sleepy, bleary eyes were met with the panic-inducing sight of a tractor trailer splayed across the road on it's side. wheels still spinning, it must have happened just seconds before our arrival. we pulled off to the side to call emergency and annie ran over to the twisted wreckage to check on the driver of the rig. he happened to be okay enough to be climbing out of the cab, and cursing about finding his phone to call in to the trucking company. as this was happening, i tried to alert oncoming traffic with my mini maglite. i was shaking so hard, i couldn't tell if it was nerves or chills from the night air. the overturned truck was too obscured by night to the speeding drivers and we watched helplessly as another car crashed head-on into the wreck at full speed, and somehow the passengers climbed out of the car as well. i kept signaling furiously from the side of the road as the others called 911 again and again, hoping to slow traffic and hear sirens or see flashing lights. another rig came barreling down and swerved to miss the wreckage, then swerved back to avoid hitting our parked vehicle down the roadside and ended up tipping over on it's side, ejecting it's cargo which, in turn, struck our vehicle parked on the shoulder. and yes, that driver also climbed out of his cab, also unscathed. some other rigs finally stopped at the scene, giving some visibility to other traffic until the police and ambulances arrived. after what seemed like forever, sirens sounded in the distance. before we knew it, we were spending a few hours among the flashing lights, making sense of the wreckage and recounting details to the policemen and trying to figure out how we were now supposed to get back home.

the sun was up by the time most of the wreckage was cleared, and the five of us were split up between two police cars on our way to find a somewhat nearby rental car agency. the officers were quite friendly and nice enough to cart us all around until we got our situation straightened out. of course, the rental agency was another debacle, but we don't need to get into details about that. by this time, we were all slap-happy from yet another sleepless night after a no-sleep weekend coupled with all of the fest activities in gainesville, but we were soon on the road and on our way back to ohio.

unrelated to our accident, but scary just the same.