Goodbye SUBARU :( RIP!

Garage Sales are truly a HIT here in Eagle River!  After much build up about the BIG one happening we were in route with Uncle Chris, Sis, Dad and I.  WE NEVER MADE IT!

Have you ever wondered who would win in this match up?
 

As we were driving along the road, another driver, headed to the garage sales also, ran a stop sign while on her cellphone.  SERIOUSLY?  I saw her come to the intersection.  I mentally said "stop truck".(Toyota Tundra, Black)  She didn't stop.  There was no time to honk the horn or anything.  I yelled out "She's not stopping!" just before impact.  I remember everything i...n....s....l...o...w...m...o...t...i...o...n...from there.  The beautiful Toyota emblem on the grill of her truck out the corner of my eye up close. So shiny.  The berm and street sign ahead of me.  The delicious lemon berry smoothies floating in the air looking like glass.  Yanking on the wheel to keep from rolling.  Swinging. Spinning.  Stopping.  Realizing it was smoothie and not glass.  Seeing us okay.

Processing.......Processing....... See other driver stop and get out of car and come towards us.

Target--------->  At this point there are many stories.  I am a bit of a momma bear.  I tried to open my door...can't...stuck...oh yeah....impact.  Window....working slowly.  At this point I started yelling at the lady who hit us.  "You almost killed us!  Did you not see that stop sign?  How could you run it?"  as I was clawing with my fingers to prie that window open.  They tease that I became the HULK and that an angel was sent to hit my door a bit more to ensure that I wouldn't have an assault charge in my record. 

Processing....how to get out....side doors.  Checking again that we are all okay.  Brother, Sis, Hubby check...all walking, no glass.  "Get me out of here!"  I climb over the seats and get out to a very apologetic lady calling her husband who is a cop to call dispatch. 

Gathering myself.  Hugging each other.  Processing again.  Why are my legs so shaky?  My head feels fuzzy.  It is cold.  Our car.  No Airbags?  No broken glass?  Memorize license plate...wait it's under our car.  Chris?  Wow, you have that smoothie dripping from your face!  We have a laugh briefly until Sis starts crying, "I didn't mean to distract you, Mom.  I'm sorry for saying MOOSE."  We had just passed a moose on the side of the road before the hit.  In fact Dad and Sis were looking that direction.  D thought initially that I hit a moose as that was all he could put together in the shock fuzz.  Then we all just sat and waited for the adrenaline to subside and the shock fuzz to dissipate. 

WHOA!  We are alive.  There was no blood and guts.  It is a car, not a life.  We are okay.  How did she not see us? Our Car...BUMMER!  We really liked our Subaru.

Then the police arrive.  The other driver admits guilt to the police.  A witness had stopped and left his business card...I don't really remember when...however I had it in my hand.  Got the information from the car for the police.  Called a friend for a ride.  Friend took kids to his home.  Finished up all the paperwork...we were not cited.  Waiting for the tow company.  Calling insurance to report the accident.  Seeing members of our church ward drive by who also were out at garage sales. 

Still shaking...wanting to go home and crawl into bed.  Still feeling fuzzy and exhausted.  It is only 10:30 AM on a Saturday.  This is the pictures taken at the scene...I just happened to have my camera in my pocket. We were SO lucky today.

This is the direction we were facing upon coming to the intersection.  She was on our left.

 Somehow we ended up on the other side of the intersection facing the opposite direction.  Check out those skid marks!  Still can't understand how we ended up where we were.  I think we were airborne with angels attending.  It makes me shake seeing it.

 The damaged doors.  The front door having just enough to keep me from getting out.  The window after prieing it down.  HUGE impact where D was sitting.  My poor husband took the full force of the accident on his hips...literally!

That would be the Toyota Tundra's license plate underneath our car.  She didn't even notice us until she heard the noise and felt the thud.  I am still totally shocked by this. 

 This is the berm that we went up and over somehow without flipping.  Still don't know how also.  The roughed up area is where we went up and over.

This is the interior front after sitting for a few days.  Still covered with lemon berry smoothie.  What a total mess.  No wonder it was all over my brothers face, dripping from his eyebrow, up his nose, all over the windshield and coated on both of our pants.  You can see it dripping from the air vents.  EW!  I am just so glad that it was not glass.  Did you notice no airbags went off?  And YES, we were ALL WEARING OUR SEATBELTS.

So many things went right to keep us "safe" in this accident.  Only fractures lines in the windshield, no broken glass, hit just right to spin us and not flip or drag us.  We feel very fortunate.

LESSON LEARNED FOR ALL WHO READ:

Please STOP using your cellphones when driving!!!!  You can kill someone by this careless act.  We were lucky to survive such a careless act.  You may not.  Don't try it.  Just put it down!

I am forever changed by this experience.  I too, will become a better driver who DOES NOT use her cellphone while driving.

 

I am glad that we can somewhat "laugh" at the experience.  Mostly at my reaction to the accident and becoming the HULK.  We are super soar with bruises.  D's hip really hurts.  He has a goose egg on the side of his head.  Another on top.  His hat was thrown to the back of the car as were Sis' glasses.  I forever will replay this and wonder HOW?  We are so grateful for the attending angels this day on our behalf.  For now, we are okay.

Perhaps flying isn't that dangerous after all. 

But garage sales in Alaska sure are a HIT! 

Like we say...a full contact sport around here.  LOL!