2010 Reflections p2.1 : Crashing Trucks for New Outlooks

This is the second installment in a series where I reflect upon the year in order to understand where I am and appreciate all that happened in the last twelve months. In this post I revisit my truck accident in February and how it changed quite a few things for me. Shortly after it happened, I wrote about some of the details of the accident. I had to leave out a few key bits, including the reason I was down in Ames, Iowa in the first place: my job interview with Webfiling. After a brutal full day of interviewing with numerous people asking similar questions, I was exhausted. This was worsened by that fact that I was really anxious the night before and hardly sleep. However, I felt really good about the interview and was excited to get back home and celebrate with my then girlfriend Arika and some friends at my favorite neighborhood watering hole, Tracy's Saloon. Before heading back, I needed gas and some food, but I decided to stop on the way rather than get caught up further in rush hour traffic in Ames. Arika didn't have a phone, so I sent her a G-Chat message quoting Ozzy "Mamma, I'm coming home" and started on my way. Now, I hate to talk about the weather, but it played a role in my accident. The temperature was 15 degrees F and it had been a bright beautiful clear day. However, the great northern Iowa crosswinds were in full brutal force as well. These factors combined to create a lethal trap of which I was not the only victim. The winds blew snow onto the freeway. The bright sun melted the snow. Then as the sun vanished and the temperatures dropped, turning the melted snow into an icy glaze. As I was driving out of Ames, the roads seemed fine. I was cruising along at the speed limit and dreaming of sleeping in my own bed again. I stopped at Casey's General Store in Story City and fueled up. I grabbed some coffee, some smokes, and a slice of pizza to tide me over. I pulled back onto the freeway and was ready to make the three hour journey. A few miles in, I noticed a lot of cars in the right lane driving well below the speed limit so I slowed down and switched lanes to pass. As I passed, I noticed they were older people and my stereotypes of the elderly driving slow kicked in and I returned to the 70 mph speed limit. No sooner than I did this, I hit a patch of ice and started to skid towards the median. Instinctively, I tried to correct the wheel. However, this was futile as it jerked the truck and suddenly I started to feel the Gs. I started to tip sideways - still moving forward at  the speed limit. Everything in the car started to fly up towards the ceiling. I saw a field of white ahead of me as the windshield shattered. Next, all the things floating about in the car fell back down - this time mixed with bits of broken glass and snow. No sooner did they land, they rose up again hurling themselves at the ceiling. More glass. More snow. This time, blood. Finally, the items fell one last time back down from the ceiling and I realized what was going on. Yup, I rolled my truck. I took a quick glance about. The drivers side door was flung open. The windshield was caved. My coffee cup was in the back of the truck. My luggage was in the front of the truck.  I could see my phone on the floor sticking out of the snow. It looked like my truck was a snow globe someone had shaken up. As I rolled, my life didn't flash before my eyes like people have later asked. Actually, I was just thinking the whole time "really? We're doing this?" I crawled out of the drivers seat into the knee deep snow. The truck had landed right-side-up but the rear wheels were sticking up in the air still spinning. Little pieces of fender and grill were strewn about. I then noticed drops of blood in the snow. I touched my face to see if I still had everything. I looked down at my hands which were numb. They were covered in blood. I frantically trudged about heading towards the road bed. People were slowing down to gawk but no one was stopping to help. I felt like some sort of leper people wanted to avoid. I figured I should call 911, so I ran back and grabbed my phone out of the snow drift that was now my floor. My phone appeared to be working but my hands were too numb to dial. The touch screen on my phone became smudged with blood as I tried to work it. I was miserable and felt so cold and alone and wanted to cry. I would later describe this as the second most desolate feeling I have ever experienced. Cliffhanger! I hate to leave you here, but this was getting really long and I decided to break it up into a few parts. Since I am writing this, you know I didn't bleed to death in the snow. Next up, tales of hitchhiking, getting stuck in blizzards, and reflections on it all.