Yesterday I drove down from Las Vegas to my home here in Tucson. The occasion of course, is Christmas, and we had a most wonderful Christmas Eve here with one friend and one neighbor coming over for visiting. There is that part of me that thinks I should be in San Jose instead at my parents' house, but I think that that kind of trip won't happen until March or May of next year. I will have more vacation balance added come January 1, and I don't want to do that kind of trip until the weather is warmer.
My trip down here was largely uncomplicated. I did witness something in west Phoenix yesterday that's still on my mind.
I witnessed a serious accident yesterday. This was along mile marker 135 on I-10. I had joined I-10 from Loop 303, and at this section of the Interstate, you've got four/five lanes not counting the carpool lane.
All was pretty much well until I noticed a whole lot of brake lights coming on. I immediately hit my flashers to let the tailgater behind me know that something was amiss. My initial thought was that there was a slowdown. I was quickly disabused of that notion when I noticed that a smaller size RV was having stability problems.
At that point I was in the lane next to the carpool lane. The RV was about five car lenghs ahead and he was three, maybe four lanes over to the right. I'm quickly noticing that he's losing control, his swerving around causing the other drivers to hit their brakes. It was after that that it quickly happened.
The RV immediately crossed all of the lanes to his left. As thick as it was, it is a miracle that he didn't hit anybody. He immediately crossed all lanes and landed in the median. I watched him traverse those lanes as if he were a southern Californian, and land in the median, whereupon he overturned and landed on his roof. A lot of dust from the median was kicked up and visibility went to zero. I was able to come to a full stop and not get hit by the guy behind me, who was probably not a southern Californian since he had been warned by my flashers that I was slowing down. (Aside:: a southern Californian driver will tailgate you no matter what. If you don't believe me, try driving in Las Vegas sometime, where former southern Californians, by their driving habits, have driven up insurance rates to twice what they otherwise would be.)
When the visibility cleared, I started driving again, and as I slowly passed by, I noticed drivers ahead of me pulling over to render assistance. At that time I temporarily lost all semblance of appetite, and I wanted to go somewhere and throw up. What I saw wasn't pleasant. I'm thinking, would I have had my truck totalled if I had left my apartment 15 seconds earlier? What I saw yesterday gave me nightmares last night. I dreamt of driving around Tucson and seeing cars ahead of me wildly spin out.
I went online this morning to learn more about what I saw. The driver and one other person, presumably a passenger, survived, but were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. I-10 was backed up for several miles in each direction for several hours. No other details are available.
Last year when I did the Christmas drive here, I remember that there had been an accident in the Chandler/Gilbert area of I-10. I was tempted yesterday to go a little out of my way and bypass Phoenix by going thru Gila Bend.
I may give in to the temptation to do that when it's time to return to Trashcan.......excuse me........Las Vegas.
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