A Scary Story . . .

. . . On A Stormy Day

The heavy snow had ceased and turned to rain and then it cleared a bit but left the road wet.

Halfway from Seminole to Hobbs the fast lane of a four-lane divided highway was drier than the inside lane and 60 miles an hour was safely achievable.

Then the inside lane appeared dry so Lady B eased the air force blue Toyota Matrix into that lane. Just in time was that maneuver.

Suddenly a blurring white moving object came into view. A white pickup truck was rolling over and over from the eastbound lane through the median directly into the westbound lane.

In a flash it was laying on its side, partially into the fast lane and about 60 feet from the Toyota which a very alert Lady B had halted swiftly. A bloody head could be seen in a window frame.

Trusty cell phone in hand and already pushing the 911 button I alighted and ran to the rolled-over vehicle meanwhile talking to the Seminole dispatcher, asking for police and an ambulance.

Lady B. eased her car to a safe place at roadside and waited inside.
Another driver had hoped from his eastbound pickup and also had called for an ambulance.

I reached the young man at the window of the wreck who was desperately trying to climb out and told him to stay and wait for the medics who already were en route. Stephen had a serious looking gash on his head, said he was allright "but get an ambulance for my dad."

His dad was not visible to me but minutes later a strong-looking fellow with an oilfield company hat, crawled into a small opening at the truck's rear and found the father who said his shoulder was broken, and gently removed him to the median.

The younger man found his way out through a hole in the side of truck and crawled into view, streaming precious blood just as the Seminole ambulance pulled up.

Being first on the scene, I could only tell a sheriff's deputy of seeing the truck rolling but not how the accident came about.

After giving that meager information, I went to the Toyota and found Lady B. praying for the two men who appeared badly hurt.

We left, thanking God we had not been in that fast lane, were not traveling too fast although the speed limit is 70, and we were not in the blinding snowstorm we had experienced early on our trip.

But that was not all. Just a few miles further toward Hobbs and we came upon another rollover accident, an eighteen-wheeler layng on its side also partly into the fast lane. Sheriff's deputies were already there. We were guided through wreckage slowly and continued on our way.

That was on Monday after a visit to my eye doctor and on the first day of our intended trip to Fort Worth. It had been raining heavily all night in Lubbock where we had spent the night in a motel.

When we left the doctor's office about 12:30 Texas time, it was snowing.
We had a bad feeling about a trip to Fort Worth. We left and traveled through a few streets which were flooded a foot deep.

The more we traveled the deeper the water seemed. We stopped to fill the gas tank and talked to a convenience store operator who advised the storm was worse in the Fort Worth direction.

Reluctantly we aborted the trip and headed home, running into a blizzard en route, then heavy rain again, eventually a bit of clearing and then those accidents.

Yes, a scary day. At our ages we felt our intuition was the best to follow, not wanting to be victims of any storm-caused accidents as we later saw en route home.

And here's a little hint you may not already know about. In that blizzard we remembered someone had once suggested that in heavy rain, if you put on your sunglasses, you can see through the storm much better.

We'd not had the occasion to try that hint before but now we highly recommend it to you readers. It really works when the snow is coming directly at you!

And about cell phones - they are mighty handy when you need to get help for someone in a hurry. This was the first time I had used one in an accident scenario. Be sure they are charged.

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