Posted by Clint Dixon on Friday, January 13, 2006 at 6:16PM :
Its just a good thing it was not also a full moon today, that will come tomorrow.
I got a frantic call at work this morning at 8:15. Martie was on her way into town, traveling 50 mph on an interstate overpass, when she lost the tire and wheel assembly on the driver's front of her Jeep Cherokee. She was lucky she was able to control the vehicle and got stopped on the median shoulder with the weight of the vehicle riding on the front brake rotor. She was lucky that she was in the left lane and did not take out any vehicles around her. She was lucky that it happened while leaving the overpass and not before or she could have gone into the guardrail. She was lucky that the loose tire and wheel hit the guardrail for the approaching lanes preventing it from causing an accident in the oncoming traffic. She was also lucky that an off duty state police officer, on his way to work, came upon her as she was rolling the tire back to the vehicle and was able to slow traffic and be with her until I got there.
The only indication that anything unusual was about to happen was a sudden hammering that developed half of a mile before the accident. She was lucky that she was quickly started slowing down. It appears that the lug nuts simply spun off the studs. There is a little fender damage and about $1200.00 worth of parts and labor will be required to repair the major stuff according to the dealer. Things like wheel, rotor, brake caliper, hub, wheel bearing, backing plate, u-joint, etc. The important thing is that no life was lost.
Strike one.
I was taking Martie from the dealership to her Mom’s when a vehicle ran a red light by making a right turn just as we were meeting an oncoming vehicle at the same intersection. We were almost involved in a head-on with the two other vehicles.
Strike two.
After dropping Martie off, I headed back to work, taking a short cut by traveling the Government Bridge over the Mississippi River. I was the last vehicle to make it across the bridge. A trucker tried to drive his rig onto the double decker bridge and wedged it under the top span that carries the railroad tracks.
Almost strike three.
After all of this, we traveled to town in the “other” direction to take care of a trailer title that we received by mail yesterday. It had our name and address correct, but the town and zip code were wrong. While getting the matter corrected at the driver’s license facility, we noticed that the registration that we have had in our possession for 6 months was wrong too. Correct name, address, and town, but wrong zip code.
I guess, when you consider all of the good luck we have had today, it far outweighs the bad luck. But tomorrow will arrive under a full moon. What will it bring?
Junior
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