2010 Reflections p2.3 - The Snowy Epic Conclusion

This is a continuation of the story of my truck accident earlier this year. You can read part 2 here or start from the beginning here. When I left off, I had just hitchhiked through a rural Iowa town holding a bloody towel and was chain smoking in my hotel room wondering how I was going to get home. I woke up in the morning around 7 A.M. I immediately started trying to figure out how to get home. I started looking up flights from Des Moines as well as Grey Hound tickets back to Minneapolis.  Both involved getting out of Story City, which was around 40 minutes from Des Moines and 20 from Ames. I started looking at cab companies and made some calls. Very few wanted to drive that far on the still ice covered roads. I called the towing place that I dropped my keys off at the night before. They said the roads were too poor still to get my truck out and they were not planning on doing it now until the next day most likely. One of my dad's favorite sayings came to mind : "what a fuck story". I began to start thinking that I would be stuck in Iowa for another night. I emailed my boss at AOL saying that I got into an accident and that I might not be able to work for another day or two while I try to get home. I had never met this boss since it was a new telecommuting project and she was in New York. Her eventual reply was something brief and cold like "Hope you feel better. Keep me posted." Meanwhile, the HR person at Webfilings called to check in. She was very concerned and very helpful. She told me she had contacted the hotel and paid for my room. Wow. Then we started trying to figure out how to get me home. I told her that I was thinking of taking a Grey Hound but was worried about the transportation to the nearest pickup spot back in Ames. She then said she would make some calls. I continued looking online for flights. Even though Des Moines is only 4 hours away from Minneapolis, there was only one direct flight and it was $800.  The few others had layovers in Milwaukee. Sure, fine, whatever - I just wanted to get home. I decided I wanted to try for it, but the last flight was leaving in only 3 hours. I finally called a cab company in Des Moines willing to drive up to Story City and set up a cab for in about an hour. I bought my ticket online, quickly packed my things and had one more cigarette. While cleaning out my pocket and putting non-essential items in my suitcase,  I pulled out a two dollar bill.  I stared at it for a second, smiled, and tucked it in the suitcase pocket with my toiletries. Just as I was zipping the last zipper on my luggage,  the HR woman at Webfilings called back and said that one of their admins, Katrina, was driving to the air port to drop off some friends and that she could pick me up and take me wherever I needed to go. Excellent! She was going to be there in a half hour. I called the cab company back and canceled. I checked out of the hotel. There was a older Swedish man with a thick accent working this time - perhaps he was married to the women from the night before. I thought to myself, I wonder when they get to see each other? Then I thought of Arika and got a bit bummed that I hadn't gotten to talk to her yet. I walked to a nearby gas station and bought a sandwich and some sunglasses. It was bright out. Although, sun blindness being on the top of my list of concerns was a nice change from only hours before. I walked back to the hotel and sat in the lobby waiting for my ride. While out having a cigarette, a man started making small talk. He was in town helping his brother with his laundry and staying at the hotel for a reason I forget. I was preoccupied and his story was non-nonsensical to me. When I said I was from Minneapolis, he started telling me stories about people from there, perhaps his relatives? I felt a bit bad for not being more engaging, but I had a sandwich to eat and was still having weird flashbacks of the crash. Eventually, Katrina showed and we zipped to Des Moines. This was my first time on the freeway since the crash and I was super anxious. I gripped the door handle as if my life depended on it. The roads were still very icy and, regardless of how fast Katrina was driving, it seemed too fast. Her friends were flying out to Vegas and were entertaining everyone with stories of their anticipated misadventures. I told my story again. I think the count was up to 10 times telling it now. I was already tired of telling the story... Insurance called while on the way. They were marking the truck as a total loss and going to move it to their Des Moines office once the roads were better. Hey, I was still alive and I had my tire pressure gauge so it wasn't a total loss. Ha. I got to the air port and thanked Katrina for the ride. I had one last cigarette and entered the security gauntlet. Luckily, it wasn't very busy. However, as I exited the scanner, the TSA guy watching the X-Rays said in a robotic voice "uh sir, we have a size limit on liquids of..." I cut him off. He was holding my liquid soap, toothpaste, and some hair gel - I wasn't anticipating flying this trip. "Can we just toss it". "Uh sir, that would be easiest for us, but I can't require you to..." I picked up the items and tossed them in a garbage full of other toiletries too big to fly... sorta like Kevin Smith. As I put my tooth brush and other items back in the inner pocked of my carry on, I saw the two dollar bill I had tucked away. I pulled it out "This is my lucky two dollar bill" I said to the man. "I survived a rollover crash on the freeway with this guy". The TSA guy broke his stoic professional demeanor, "Wow, how long have you had it?" "Since yesterday". The TSA guy had a bewildered gaze as gears started spinning what that meant and then smiled and said "Have a great flight sir". The plane ride was uneventful. I sat and relived the accident a million times in my head.  I thought of my warm bed. I thought of what Arika must be going through - god I wish I could just call her. I landed in Milwaukee. It was snowing. I had a two hour layover in one of the coolest cities in the world. I decided to call my cousin in Milwaukee to see if she wanted to get together. She couldn't on such short notice, so I got lunch and a couple cocktails. The snow continued. My flight was going to be delayed another hour because of the storm. I stared out the window of the gates watching the snow slowly swallow the landscape. I was getting anxious, so I decided to go out for a cigarette.  I hung out in baggage claim for a bit and bought the airport internet service. I then checked in on Facebook and saw all the wonderful messages of concern from my friends. Someone suggested going to Tracy's Saloon to celebrate my return - what a wonderful idea! I emailed Arika telling her the plan. I was expecting to be in by 7pm now with the delay. Excited, I went out for one more cigarette and then went back through security the security gauntlet. I walked back to my gate. The snow was still coming down. It was announced that the flight was delayed again. Then it was announced that the air port was closing because of the snow. I didn't fret. I had a smile on my face. I looked out the big windows. There were some airport staff playfully throwing snow balls at each other. I stared off into the snow thinking again how lucky I was to be alive. I thought about how I'm not going to let anything bother me again. I thought about how I need to not take my time on earth for granted and I need to wear a smile from here on out because I am on borrowed time. Life was great! The nice thought was interrupted. A lady with a crying baby was screaming at the woman at the ticket booth about the air port closure. I looked around at all the fellow passengers waiting to fly to my city. I started associating people with various characters from the show LOST. Our plane's version of Kate with her criminal record was a girl who looked like a meth head. There was an obese man who didn't look nearly as heroic as Hurley. The rest seemed like the people on the LOST plane that you never really saw.  I pictured myself as Locke - lucky to be alive. I munched on cheese curds from a gift shop in the air port. If our plane were to go down and land on a mysterious island in Lake Michigan, we're all screwed. Hours passed. I kept thinking about how this was a wonderful life changing event. There was more restlessness among the people at the gate. The lady with the crying baby kept screaming. She wasn't even really watching her kid. It kept running off. Finally, the air port reopened and we all cheered. It still looked horrible outside, but the runway was mostly clear. We quickly filed onto the plane. There was a long wait to take off. There was concern that the airport was going to close again.  The pilot came on and in a calm tone said something like the equivalent of "fuck it, we're going". In retrospect, reading about the tale of the KLM pilot Jacob Van Zanten in the book SWAY, a hurried take off to beat the closing of the air port maybe wasn't an awesome idea. However, we made it up into the air. As the lights of the wonderful city of Milwaukee got smaller and blurrier in the falling snow, I sighed with relief to be finally going home... only 5 hours after I was supposed to leave. I landed. There was no blizzard in Minneapolis - only clear skies and a crisp cold snap. I texted a bunch of people saying I had arrived and I'd be at Tracy's soon. I  called my friend Jon who was planning on coming up and asked if he could pick me up from the light rail. I messaged Arika to get ready. As I walked through the parking garage to the terminal lightrail station, a girl was walking near. We chatted for a bit. I told my story and she told hers. Her grandmother died in Portland and she was flying to Portland the funeral. She was crying when I first saw her, but I think after telling my tale and my new lust for life, she looked at things differently. That, or she was just weirded out by stranger talking to her in a parking garage. I rode the light rail back with a smile on my face. I was excited to be back in my city. I was excited about life. I got off at the Franklin station and Jon and his girlfriend Katie pulled up with perfect timing. I was so excited to see them. I refrained from telling the story since I knew moments later I anticipated telling it again and again at the bar. We stopped at my place to drop off my luggage and pick up Arika. I gave her a huge hug when I saw her. It felt really good. She was excited to see me but she was a mess. She didn't sleep the night before. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to go out, but she finally did. At the bar, a bunch of my friends were waiting - Adam, Mike, Caityee, Joe, Colleen, and others. We ordered lots of rounds and toasted to being alive. I drunkenly retold the story about the crash, bloody hitchhiking in Story City, the blizzard in Milwaukee, the long interview process, and my adventures the night before the interview in Ames. It was great to be back in my city, surrounded by good friends. More so, it was good to be alive and have a renewed lust for life. In the aftermath of the crash, a few things happened. Insurance totaled out my truck and since I had full coverage, I was able to buy a newer version of the same truck. Webfilings expensed my plane ticket as well as my hotel from the night before the interview. They also offered me the job and I took it. Arika's behavior surrounding the accident and the weeks to follow was the nail in the coffin for us, and within a few months we split. It took quite a while to be comfortable driving again. I have made the trip to Ames since, but have yet to drive it in the snow. My new passion for life continued for quite a while and is even a bit rejuvenated by simply recounting the whole experience. Whenever things get bad, I just remember that whole incident and chuckle. Even though the original mysteriously disappeared, I try to keep a $2 bill on me at all times. Arika and I are good friends again. I now try to smile by default. Since the accident, life has had its ups and downs, but I only look at life optimistically now. I'm living quite happily on barrowed time.