A meandering blog with no clear topic. You will find me talking about knitting, building, kids, social and economic issues, Alaska, and lots of other stuff.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

easy come, easy go....

Just about a year ago, I was posting about my husband showing up with a brand new car. August 6, to be exact. One year and 5 days later, I am most likely saying goodbye to my little car.
At 12:15 this morning, I was on my way home from a quick trip to Ketchikan, and was only a mile and a half from home when a moose walked out into the road right in front of me. I was going about 55, and all I had time to do was think, "Oh CRAP!" before I hit it. It rolled up and over the car, luckily more on the passenger side, which was empty. With the way the windshield broke and the roof collapsed, it would have hurt if it had been on the driver's side.
The really scary part was that as I was driving down the road at 55 mph, with oncoming traffic in the other lane, my airbag deployed right in front of my face. I remember swatting at it, trying unsuccessfully to clear my vision, and focusing on making sure the car moved to the right. Since I couldn't see, my main goal was to NOT let the car go left, into the oncoming traffic. I was able to keep the car straight, and came to a stop on the shoulder of the road.
The moose was given to a charitable organization to be butchered, as is done with all moose roadkill here.
I suspect the car will be totalled. I have full coverage, but the insurance company will only pay resale value, so there will most likely be a gap between what they pay and what I owe. If they total it, we might take advantage of the cash for clunkers program, and trade in our 98 Durango that needs lots of work, and get another car. The problem is that the Mitsubishi dealership in Alaska closed, so we would have to do major car shopping. Yuck.

4 comments:

msaonika said...

I AM SO DANG GLAD THAT YOU ARE SAFE!!! I do feel bad for the Moose that ran into you, but at the same time I am glad that you weren't hurt worse, or that you ended up looking like your poor car. :( I love you hunny bear! Thanks for keeping in touch! HUGS.

Unknown said...

YIKES! The site of that car even scared Greg!!

Miss you all lots and lots.

Loris mom said...

Come on. Did you really say Crap? Thank you for calling before you posted this! You have prevented a heart attack.

Love, Mom

homebrewlibrarian said...

I saw the photo before I read the post and immediately thought "did she hit a moose??" An employee of mine a number of years ago survived hitting a moose on the Palmer hayflats but her car looked almost exactly the same - except that she hit it going faster and the moose was right in front of her. I'm very thankful that you weren't injured! You know as well as I how big and heavy those danged things are!

Kerri