One Year Later

It was one year ago today that we were traveling back from a wonderful Christmas trip to visit our family when we were involved in a 9 car, 4 truck pile up near Evanston, Wyoming. Initially, we came upon an accident involving 1 SUV & 1 semi that blocked the whole road. We pulled over and Rich went to help the family in the SUV. As you can see from the pictures, their car was pretty creamed. It turned out they had been hit by 2 semis. We had no problem stopping when we came upon the accident because we were going pretty slow - it had been snowing. The cars coming behind us, however, were not being quite so conservative. They could not stop and we ended up being rear-ended twice. The second time we were hit, Rich was outside the car getting blankets for the people trapped in the SUV and he had to dive under another semi to avoid being hit.

After we were hit the second time I was feeling like a sitting duck and so we grabbed the kids and got out of the car. We went to the side of the road where a bunch of hunters and truckers were standing. Those guys were awesome! They scooped up our kids and put all of us into he back of the cab of one of the trucks. A driver named Jim let us huddle there for 5 hours while we waited to the police to do the report and a wrecker to take our car. Luckily we were only about 85 miles from Salt Lake, so Rich's family were able to pick us up the next day when the roads were clear.

I am always humbled when I think about the many people who helped us, whether or not they even knew us. Our family, of course was awesome - Rich's mom & brother came and got us and my sister was able to get us a reservation at a hotel in Evanston even as we sat in the back of that truck waiting for the police to finish. That reservation was key - they ended up closing I-80, so there were a lot of travelers stranded. Our awesome friends in Atlanta gave us additional frequent flier miles so we could fly our family home from Salt Lake. And a trucker named Jim who let us stay warm and dry in the back of his cab for so long. He drives for Jim Palmer so if you see one of those trucks in your travels, let it remind you that there are good guys out there.

Most of all, I am so grateful that we were okay. All we had were a couple of sore necks and the inconvenience of not having our car for a while. One look at that picture of the SUV puts it all into perspective. So today is a day to hug the kids and feel blessed because we were so blessed! Happy New Year everyone!