Mile 819: You Should See The Other Guy!

Heidi with her new niece!

Wild Blue meets the Great Blue

     

Crab feast on the coast with some good friends.

   

      In all the miles I have traveled in my life, there are a couple of things that I have learned about being on the road. The first is to expect the unexpected. The second is to try and embrace those unexpected events as a part of the adventure. We are currently working on the latter.
     We are still Portland, OR beginning week five of our planned three week stop. Our time here has been exciting to say the least. Heidi's sister Erica and her husband Philip gave birth (also a bit behind schedule) to a healthy baby girl named Adeline Rose. Between our time helping out the new parents around the house and visiting old friends and familiar places, we also managed to make an amazing side trip to the coast. Finally, one of the most exciting, and least fun, events was getting run into by a drunk driver one day before we planned on leaving.

         Apparently for some, independence day celebrations can't begin early enough. It was only two hours into the fourth of July when Heidi and I were awoken by a violent shaking crash and the sound of an engine revving in chorus with a blaring stereo and some colorful narration, of which I will omit here. I jumped out of bed and ran to the drivers side window to find a car partially wedged underneath the side of the bus and apparently stuck despite the drivers best efforts. It was only after taking the license plate number and telling the driver repeatedly to stop moving that he finally managed to free the car and speed away while cheering loudly out the window.  Fortunately it only took Karma one block to catch up, at which point the the haggard remains of the car sputtered to a stop. In the time it took the police to arrive, the driver did manage to make one more daring escape attempt which lasted exactly one more city block. We found out later that the driver decided it would be a good idea to try and change his shredded tire in the middle of the busiest street in the neighborhood. Which is consequently where the cops arrested him minutes later on charges of DUII, Hit and Run, and reckless endangerment.  Bad night for us, worse night for him.

School bus vs.

     The good news is that the damage to the bus was unbelievably minimal when compared to the other guys car. We sustained some body damage to a four foot section in the middle side of the bus and the grey water tank valve snapped off at the tank. Meanwhile, the side of the other car was literally sliced open like some giant can opener was attempting to access the booze saturated treat inside. Surprisingly, the driver did have insurance. The bad news, however, is that the insurance company won't pay a dime until they are able to contact the driver. I guess he just isn't in the mood to pick up the phone.

drunken fool.

     Although it has been interesting learning how to navigate the insurance process and the Judicial system over the last week, we feel we have contributed all that we can and have waited long enough. Even if the insurance company was willing to pay for repairs immediately, the shop who did the estimate said it would take a month to get the needed parts. Apparently a custom-built, rolling homestead is kind of a special case when it comes to repair work. Who knew? And so, now we are picking up the pieces (literally) and getting ready to get back on the trail.
   As far as embracing this unexpected event? Well, we did get a few more beautiful days in this great city. On the positive side of the accident, there doesn't seem to be any mechanical damage that will keep us from moving on. We were lucky that no one was injured and that we served as a road block to keep a seriously impaired driver from reaching the highway where he could have done far, far more damage. As with most experiences, the silver lining often doesn't come into focus except in hindsight. So I guess we will see what comes about in the following days, weeks and months. But, just in case the powers of the universe happen to be reading this blog, a nice insurance check would be a perfectly fine happy-ending with us.