Near Death
As I get older, I think about mortality a lot more then when I was in my teens and 20’s. Not that I am obsessing about it, but you can’t help but think about it. I would bet everyone at some point in their life has had a moment where they are driving along in their car and you come two seconds away from a horrific accident. I have had three such experiences. And let me tell you that is three to many. Here they are.
Rodney Long saved my life – Back in the late 80’s before I had a drivers license, Chris Dusza became me and my posse’s ride. After awhile Dusza met his girlfriend and spent all of his time with her so, we needed to find another friend with a license and access to a car. That is when Mike Dell came into the picture. He had access to his mom’s Chevy Impala and I have waxed poetic about that car in this post, http://10withamop.blogspot.com/2006/11/long-may-you-run.html#comments
At a certain point another Argo student, Rodney joined our ever expanding circle of friends. He had access to a Blue Chevy pickup truck. This was good as we were usually testing the limits of human capacity in Dell’s Impala. It was nice in that we could now split the group up even though at most you could only fit about two passengers in the front of Rodney’s truck.
I don’t know where we were going on the night of this story. I don’t remember who was in whose car. All I do remember was that I was in Rodney’s truck and we were following behind Dell. We were sitting at a traffic light in the left hand turn lane to make a left on 95th street looking to turn onto 88th avenue. Now, those who know that intersection know that 88th avenue is one lane going in each direction. This little detail plays an important part in this story.
At the time there was a gas station on that corner. Rodney’s truck was third at the light, Dell was second and there was a car in front of him. We got the arrow, and we all started to go. The car in front of Dell for some reason after making the left onto 88th avenue immediately comes to a complete stop as it attempts to turn right into the gas station. Dell notices this at the last minute and slams on his brakes just missing hitting the car in front of him.
So, as Rodney turns the truck all we see are Dell’s brake lights as the Impala is at a complete stop. Rodney has two choices. Slam into Dell’s bumper or swerve to the left crossing over onto the oncoming traffic lane. I was riding bitch in the passenger’s seat. Of course being all of 17 I was fearless and not wearing a seat belt. Rodney swerved his truck at the last possible moment missing Dell’s rear bumper by two inches at the most. If there had been a car in the oncoming lane we would have hit it. But by some miracle there wasn’t. If Rodney’s reflexes been a little slower, we have for sure hit Dell’s car at a pretty good speed. Being where I was sitting I would have gotten the worst of it and would have definitely at the very least cracked my head open on the windshield.
But, thankfully none of that happened. Rodney swerved out of the way, and we escaped without a hair on our heads being hurt. After the near accident Dell and Rodney pulled to the side of the road as we were all a tad shaken. You would think that incident would have led me to start wearing a seat belt. But, it would be years before I would take up the practice on a regular basis.
A Ford Mustang and snow, a bad combination – This was 1990. I know this because I was still at Moraine Valley and so was my brother. My Brother didn’t start Moraine until 89-90. The previous evening it had snowed pretty badly. At the time I was driving a 1982 Buick Skylark. It was on older car that had well over 120,000 miles on it. The brakes sucked on it and it handled about as well as a riding lawn mower.
The next morning after the snowstorm the roads were still pretty bad. They were so bad in fact that my Mom decided she was going to stay home from work rather than risk the drive. Why my brother and I decided we needed to get to class at Moraine that day I have no idea. But, we both made decision to go. I would give my brother a ride to school on most mornings as we had classes that started at the same time. As we were heading out the door, my Mom suggested that instead of taking my Skylark, I could take her 85 Cutlass.
The green Cutlass wasn’t new but it sure drove like it. My Mom took it to work every day and that was about it. It hardly had any miles on it even though it was 5 years old. It drove like new and handled much better than my beat up Skylark. That little gesture may have saved both me and Vince.
For some reason, instead of taking the safer yet slower route of Kean Ave, to Moraine I chose to take La Grange Road. Not sure why I did this, but I did. I merged onto La Grange and it was moving slow. The roads were still very slick and top speed you could reasonably get to was at most 20 and that was pushing it. The traffic was crawling. We caught the light at 87th and La Grange and we were the first car in the left hand lane. There was a car to the right of me and a new Ford Mustang sitting behind that car.
The Mustang along with the Chevy Camaro might be the two worst cars to drive in a snow storm. The engines are way too big for their bodies and all the power goes to the left rear wheel. The light turns green. The car to the right of me gets a little ahead off the line but not by much. The Mustang then decides that screw the conditions, I am in a hurry. He is going to try to pass my car and switch lanes ahead of me on the left.
I am seeing this go down in my rear view mirror and I can almost sense what is about to happen next. As sure as shit, as soon as his car gets right next to mine he starts to do a doughnut. He is spinning out of control and he is about to hit us head on. I have one choice. I swerve the Cutlass onto the oncoming traffic to the left on La Grange Road.
Again, the Gods were with me as for some reason there were no cars in the oncoming lane. If there were I would have slammed into it head on. If I had not pulled off the maneuver for sure my brother in the passenger seat would have been sent airborne through the windshield. (Of course neither one of us were wearing seat belts.) I had no time to think I just reacted. The car behind me was not so lucky and smacked right into the Mustang. If I had been in my Skylark I am not sure I could have pulled off that move.
A deer at 4 AM – Back in the days when I was dating Jenny, I would often fall asleep on her couch. She was 17 or 18 at the time and of course I was not permitted to stay over at her house. Jenny’s mom usually crashed around 9 PM and her step-dad worked weird hours and would get home around 5 AM. On several occasions, I had him wake me up as he got home and I had passed out and would get a lecture about how I was not permitted to stay the night.
So, my goal was to not fall asleep at her house and if I did to be out of there before her step-dad got home from work. One night I wake up on the couch and sure enough it is four in the morning. I realize I better get the hell out of Dodge. I proceed to put my shoes on in my groggy early 20’s haze and head out the door to go home where I can go back to sleep.
I was driving my 1978 yellow Chevy Nova. This was about as basic of a car as you could get. I paid $250 for it and in all honesty that may have been overpriced. The window didn’t roll down and the heat didn’t work. But, it got me from point A to point B. I didn’t dare take that car on La Grange road, so I headed down 88th avenue to my house in Willow Springs.
It was a somewhat foggy night out and visibility was low. I am cruising down the two lane road when out of nowhere a deer just darts right out in front of my car. I immediately slammed on the rather worn out brakes of my Nova. I wound up missing hitting the deer head on at 40 MPH by about a millimeter. To be honest I still don’t know how I missed him. I was dead tired, the car’s brakes were shit and it was foggy out. This deer darted from the left faster than a greyhound from out of nowhere. To say I was lucky to have missed it would be an understatement.
Rodney Long saved my life – Back in the late 80’s before I had a drivers license, Chris Dusza became me and my posse’s ride. After awhile Dusza met his girlfriend and spent all of his time with her so, we needed to find another friend with a license and access to a car. That is when Mike Dell came into the picture. He had access to his mom’s Chevy Impala and I have waxed poetic about that car in this post, http://10withamop.blogspot.com/2006/11/long-may-you-run.html#comments
At a certain point another Argo student, Rodney joined our ever expanding circle of friends. He had access to a Blue Chevy pickup truck. This was good as we were usually testing the limits of human capacity in Dell’s Impala. It was nice in that we could now split the group up even though at most you could only fit about two passengers in the front of Rodney’s truck.
I don’t know where we were going on the night of this story. I don’t remember who was in whose car. All I do remember was that I was in Rodney’s truck and we were following behind Dell. We were sitting at a traffic light in the left hand turn lane to make a left on 95th street looking to turn onto 88th avenue. Now, those who know that intersection know that 88th avenue is one lane going in each direction. This little detail plays an important part in this story.
At the time there was a gas station on that corner. Rodney’s truck was third at the light, Dell was second and there was a car in front of him. We got the arrow, and we all started to go. The car in front of Dell for some reason after making the left onto 88th avenue immediately comes to a complete stop as it attempts to turn right into the gas station. Dell notices this at the last minute and slams on his brakes just missing hitting the car in front of him.
So, as Rodney turns the truck all we see are Dell’s brake lights as the Impala is at a complete stop. Rodney has two choices. Slam into Dell’s bumper or swerve to the left crossing over onto the oncoming traffic lane. I was riding bitch in the passenger’s seat. Of course being all of 17 I was fearless and not wearing a seat belt. Rodney swerved his truck at the last possible moment missing Dell’s rear bumper by two inches at the most. If there had been a car in the oncoming lane we would have hit it. But by some miracle there wasn’t. If Rodney’s reflexes been a little slower, we have for sure hit Dell’s car at a pretty good speed. Being where I was sitting I would have gotten the worst of it and would have definitely at the very least cracked my head open on the windshield.
But, thankfully none of that happened. Rodney swerved out of the way, and we escaped without a hair on our heads being hurt. After the near accident Dell and Rodney pulled to the side of the road as we were all a tad shaken. You would think that incident would have led me to start wearing a seat belt. But, it would be years before I would take up the practice on a regular basis.
A Ford Mustang and snow, a bad combination – This was 1990. I know this because I was still at Moraine Valley and so was my brother. My Brother didn’t start Moraine until 89-90. The previous evening it had snowed pretty badly. At the time I was driving a 1982 Buick Skylark. It was on older car that had well over 120,000 miles on it. The brakes sucked on it and it handled about as well as a riding lawn mower.
The next morning after the snowstorm the roads were still pretty bad. They were so bad in fact that my Mom decided she was going to stay home from work rather than risk the drive. Why my brother and I decided we needed to get to class at Moraine that day I have no idea. But, we both made decision to go. I would give my brother a ride to school on most mornings as we had classes that started at the same time. As we were heading out the door, my Mom suggested that instead of taking my Skylark, I could take her 85 Cutlass.
The green Cutlass wasn’t new but it sure drove like it. My Mom took it to work every day and that was about it. It hardly had any miles on it even though it was 5 years old. It drove like new and handled much better than my beat up Skylark. That little gesture may have saved both me and Vince.
For some reason, instead of taking the safer yet slower route of Kean Ave, to Moraine I chose to take La Grange Road. Not sure why I did this, but I did. I merged onto La Grange and it was moving slow. The roads were still very slick and top speed you could reasonably get to was at most 20 and that was pushing it. The traffic was crawling. We caught the light at 87th and La Grange and we were the first car in the left hand lane. There was a car to the right of me and a new Ford Mustang sitting behind that car.
The Mustang along with the Chevy Camaro might be the two worst cars to drive in a snow storm. The engines are way too big for their bodies and all the power goes to the left rear wheel. The light turns green. The car to the right of me gets a little ahead off the line but not by much. The Mustang then decides that screw the conditions, I am in a hurry. He is going to try to pass my car and switch lanes ahead of me on the left.
I am seeing this go down in my rear view mirror and I can almost sense what is about to happen next. As sure as shit, as soon as his car gets right next to mine he starts to do a doughnut. He is spinning out of control and he is about to hit us head on. I have one choice. I swerve the Cutlass onto the oncoming traffic to the left on La Grange Road.
Again, the Gods were with me as for some reason there were no cars in the oncoming lane. If there were I would have slammed into it head on. If I had not pulled off the maneuver for sure my brother in the passenger seat would have been sent airborne through the windshield. (Of course neither one of us were wearing seat belts.) I had no time to think I just reacted. The car behind me was not so lucky and smacked right into the Mustang. If I had been in my Skylark I am not sure I could have pulled off that move.
A deer at 4 AM – Back in the days when I was dating Jenny, I would often fall asleep on her couch. She was 17 or 18 at the time and of course I was not permitted to stay over at her house. Jenny’s mom usually crashed around 9 PM and her step-dad worked weird hours and would get home around 5 AM. On several occasions, I had him wake me up as he got home and I had passed out and would get a lecture about how I was not permitted to stay the night.
So, my goal was to not fall asleep at her house and if I did to be out of there before her step-dad got home from work. One night I wake up on the couch and sure enough it is four in the morning. I realize I better get the hell out of Dodge. I proceed to put my shoes on in my groggy early 20’s haze and head out the door to go home where I can go back to sleep.
I was driving my 1978 yellow Chevy Nova. This was about as basic of a car as you could get. I paid $250 for it and in all honesty that may have been overpriced. The window didn’t roll down and the heat didn’t work. But, it got me from point A to point B. I didn’t dare take that car on La Grange road, so I headed down 88th avenue to my house in Willow Springs.
It was a somewhat foggy night out and visibility was low. I am cruising down the two lane road when out of nowhere a deer just darts right out in front of my car. I immediately slammed on the rather worn out brakes of my Nova. I wound up missing hitting the deer head on at 40 MPH by about a millimeter. To be honest I still don’t know how I missed him. I was dead tired, the car’s brakes were shit and it was foggy out. This deer darted from the left faster than a greyhound from out of nowhere. To say I was lucky to have missed it would be an understatement.
posted by 10withmop at 8:53 AM
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