Kiki’s Korner

I needed some down time. I needed something to get Friday’s accident out of mind. I needed to be surrounded by loved ones, doing nothing of great importance, outside of making sure the beer was cold enough to satisfy our thirst.

I needed this weekend.

The weather was perfect. The crab was fresh. The beer was cold (I did my job right). It was a hum dinger and I am grateful I was able to take this time to be with my family.

I probably won’t get a chance to see mom and dad again until Christmas time, but already making plans as I love hanging at the beach house. Just wish it wasn’t a six (6) hour drive away.

I witnessed, what I think to be, a fatal accident on Highway 101 around 8:40am this morning.

My sister and I were on 101 North, headed to Oregon to visit our parents and celebrate my dad’s birthday (it’s today). We were in the ‘fast’ lane. Traffic was bumper to bumper, going about 50mph. I hear tires squeal. I look over to the right lane and watch a dark blue PT Cruiser (I think) smash into the back of a big rig (about six cars ahead of us).

Every car stops.

Several cars pull over. People run over to the accident. I pick up my cell phone and call 911. As I am speaking with the dispatch operator, my sister and I make the decision to not pull over as there was already a large group of people forming around the car. I did not think we could help the situation remaining on site. I see one man walk up to the car, and immediately turn and walk away. I feel like we are in a fog and everything is moving in slo mo.

We inch past the wreck, watching for people coming out of their cars and other cars trying to pass at the same time. I look over trying to report what I see and give the police department as much information as I can. The entire front end of the car seems to be pressed into what looks like the back seat. Someone else is talking to whoever is in the car. I do not know if they ever receive a response.

I hang up the phone. My sister continues to drive and we sit quietly for a while. We both start to cry. I feel for whoever is in that car. I feel for their loved ones. I pray there is a guardian angel looking over them and they ended up walking away from that accident. I can only hope.

The image of the car hitting the big rig plays over and over in my mind. We talk about it. A lot. I think I told my sister to slow down 100 times during our trip, even though she wasn’t speeding.

When we arrive at our parents house, I sneak away for a minute to see if I can find any information on the accident. No report. No mention. Nothing. The positive I take from this lack of report is there should have been some kind of documentation if there was a fatality.

This gives me hope they were ok.

I am writing the detail of the accident down in case CHP calls me as a witness. I want to forget, but I must keep this in case it is needed.

UPDATE: July 24th – The image of the car hitting the truck scrolls across my mind several times a week, at various times of the day. There is a tightening in my stomach. There is a desire to call my loved ones. I don’t need to see anyone about it, but the image is vivid. I hope one day it will go away.

I periodically scan the internet to see if any news report was ever given. Have yet to come across a single mention. This still gives me hope they were ok.

As my car nears the 230k mile mark, I have been checking into what my best options are (sell, trade or donate), especially as Bessie sits in our garage, unwilling to start at the moment (hoping it will just be a battery issue, but haven’t had time to get it checked out).

Kelly Blue Book tells me she is not worth much these days, though interesting to note – she seems to be worth a couple hundred more now than when I checked back in 2007. Funny.

Anyway, this is a topic I have been chewing on, almost since the day I bought her. I can’t believe I have owned this car this long (15 years!) or that she has as many miles on her as she does. Bessie has been fairly inexpensive to maintain, but I am now starting to spend $1k+ or so per year on her and I am wondering when do I stop ‘investing’ and simply let her go?

I was seriously thinking about donating her, but I just heard of a program called Cash for Clunkers that President Barack Obama officially signed into law as part of a larger defense spending bill today. The program is supposed to start at the end of July, and the government will give people $3,500 for scrapping gas guzzlers if they buy new cars that go at least four miles further on a gallon of gas, or $4,500 if the new vehicle gets 10 miles more per gallon.

I would not consider Bessie to be a gas guzzler as she gets about 18 miles per gallon right now, but the latter would apply, which means my only option would probably be a Prius, but me thinks I need to go on a couple of test drives and see if there is something that sparks my fancy just to add another complicated layer into my decision making process.