Let me begin by saying that we are uninjured...
Today began ever so lovely. Doug & I stayed at Summerset Winery B&B last night courtesy of my mother (last year's Christmas gift). We worked a bit on expanding the family unit and relaxed in a way that is impossible with a one-year-old.
This afternoon we traveled northwest for a family gathering- November birthdays (mine is tomorrow :). We left shortly after 6pm; Brenna was getting tired and a bit cranky. It was a beautiful fall night: crisp air, a bright moon and clouds floating lazily across the sky.
I said to Doug, "Keep an eye out for deer, they'll be moving tonight." And we saw quite a few out in fields. We were in the homestretch, maybe half an hour from home, traveling in the right lane of a 4-lane divided highway slightly behind a pack of cars when WHAM!!
A huge buck ran right into the truck.
It's amazing how things like that happen in slow motion. He had to come up beside us, right in our blind spot, because neither of us saw him until the moment before we hit him. He was tall; he hit high on the truck taking out the front left quarterpanel, radiator and grill. The airbags deployed. I must say that I didn't feel a thing, although my shoulders are beginning to get a bit stiff.
Brenna woke abruptly from her sleep and began to cry. I don't know if it was the impact or the noise of the airbags that woke her. Doug says that I didn't scream, so I didn't wake her.
We pulled to the side of the road and the car that was behind us stopped to see if we needed help. They didn't see the deer, either, until he was on us. We were all just fine & had our cell phones, so they went on their way~ probably a bit more cautiously than before.
My first call was to my sister to come & get us. My second call was to AAA for roadside assistance. Our third call was to Doug's cousins who were driving home as well, just as a precaution.
I know that I have bitched about that truck in the past, but I am so glad we were driving it and not the car. That buck would have slid up the hood & come through the window of the car. I probably wouldn't be typing this right now. And, boy, that would have screwed up my vacation.
I'm also very glad that I wasn't sitting, as I often do, with my feet on the dash. But, you see, I had a feeling we would have some sort of deer encounter this evening.
So... My sister came & we loaded her car with our belongings. The State Patrol came and wrote a report (I asked if he stated that we had the right of way and the deer was crossing at an unmarked location). The tow truck drivers came and took the truck away.
And, as we were leaving, a deer came out of the ditch and tried to take out my sister's car. Yep, we were magnets tonight.
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