Britt's entry -
Sean doesn't get a lot of chances to go skiing, so he was super excited for weeks in advance of a trip to Steven's with our friend, Jason. He normally snowboards, but Jason is a lapsed skier, so they both rented skis and gear ahead of time and packed up the night before, then met in Monroe and headed up the pass in Jason's Honda Pilot.
After a stop for gas and another for a big breakfast, they were about 15 minutes from the pass and coming around a bend when Jason said something about a Jeep. Sean looked up and saw a hard-top Jeep Wrangler coming straight at them, sliding sideways into their lane - and both cars were going about 40 miles an hour. Sean lifted his hands so his forearms were next to his head and braced himself for the impact.
The passenger side of the jeep careened into the front end of the Pilot, crushing the front end entirely and setting off their air bags. Glass from the windshield showered in on Sean and Jason, cutting into Jason's hands.
Luckily, Sean's responder training from the military kicked in and he went into action. After a few moments the airbag gas had dissapated a bit and enough time had passed to make sure no one else was going to hit them, Sean got out of the car and asked bystanders if anyone knew the mile marker. He called 911 and reported the basic details of the accident, then helped Jason out of the passenger side since the driver's side was wedged shut. Jason seemed to be in shock from the impact and was dizzy and disoriented, so Sean got a coat on him and wrapped an extra sock around his bleeding hand.
Sean walked around to the Jeep and made sure the driver, who was alone, was breathing and moving. Inside his car and scattered around it were empty beer cans and some that were in the process of emptying after being tossed around. They may have just been leftovers from a different day, but it didn't look good when the officers arrived.
Across the street was a parking area with about 15 people getting ready for the pass, putting on chains, who would have been directly in the line of impact if their car hadn't stopped the Jeep.
Soon the officers and fire crew arrived and took down reports of what happened. The Jeep's driver was pinned in, but they got him out without having to cut into the vehicle. An ambulance took Jason down to the local hospital in Monroe and Sean rode along. They called me around 11, an hour and a half after the accident. It went something like this: "Sweetie, don't freak out. We got in an accident but I'm ok."
We saw the driver being wheeled out of x-ray, along with his four little girls who were with us in the emergency room. His neck was strapped onto the board along with his arms, but he looked conscious.
Both of the guys were sore, and will probably feel it more tomorrow. Jason had to have x-rays for his hand just in case, and they picked pieces of glass out one-by-one with tweezers, which, in case you were wondering, he reports is a painful experience. But by all accounts they were incredibly lucky and it could have been much, much worse.
The worst part is that they never got to go skiing. Bummer.
*Note: My dad said, "Tell him it's going to take more than that to get out of marrying you."*
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| Ski trip cancelled |
