After a long day on airplanes, my last flight landed nearly on time. Mostly uneventful, if you don't count being squished against the wall on one flight: this BIG fellow walked down the aisle of the plane, barely fitting... yep, he sat next to me, more than filling his seat. He asked, "Do we have to wear the seat belt on these things?"
"Oh, yeah. I thing you better ask the flight attendant for a seat belt extension. Is this the first time you've flown?"
"Last time was 1985. I was just a kid." He had a lot of questions, mostly about what to do to find ground transportation when we got to Houston. I got him going in the right direction, but I had to catch my next flight.
Waiting for my last flight, a young man in military camo asked if the seat next to me was available. "Absolutely. Have a seat, and thank you for your service." We visited for a bit, and I found out he was heading to the Valley, on a 15 day leave from Afghanistan. I asked if he had family picking him up at the airport and he said, "I hope so. I want to surprise my Dad, but I did tell my sister I was coming back. I didn't know what flight I'd be on, and the machine that sells phone cards ate my money." I gave him my cell phone so he could call his sister to coordinate a time to get picked up. She almost didn't answer the phone because she didn't recognize the number. Nice kid. He said that people have been very kind to him since he left Germany, enroute home. Less than 36 hours earlier, he had been in Afghanistan.
The last leg was on a small plane, and I had the single seat on the port side. I waited in the jetway for my carry-on bag; couldn't wait to see my Honey. Joan drove on the way home, and we decided to pass on stopping for something to eat - I told her I was bushed.
While stopped at a stoplight on Highway 100 (the last road before getting home), without any warning, we got hit from the back! No screaching brakes, just that ugly sound of metal on metal. I looked at Joan, "Are you OK?"
"Yes." I got out of the truck to see what happened. I guy had hit the van behind us, which pushed the van into our truck. I went to the van to see if everyone was OK, three people in there looked dazed, one teenage girl was crying. Her grandfather said to me, "I'm sorry. I didn't do that. The guy behind me hit me, and I hit your truck."
I went to the car that caused it, and the guy was getting out of the driver's side. "Is anyone hurt?" he asked.
"We're OK, the people in the van are pretty shook up..."
"I think my wife is hurt," he said. I looked in the car, and she was holding her stomach. She couldn't seem to talk. I went back to the truck, told Joan to call 911 and get the police and an ambulance.
Back to the car, I asked the woman again if she could tell me what hurt. About that time, two guys who had been nearby on motorcycles came over. One was a nurse, and I stepped aside to let him take over. I told the two drivers that we better start exchanging license and insurance information.
The van that had been in the middle was pretty well crunched in the front and back. The car that caused the accident didn't look that damaged. Our truck looks like it has very little damage - the frame mounted hitch took most of the hit, and the van shape was such that it ran under that.
The guy that caused the accident said, "I'm sorry. That was my fault; I don't know what happened." There were no skid marks, so it didn't look like he even tried to stop.
In a few minutes, there was a state trooper, an ambulance and a fire truck on the scene. While talking to the trooper, I saw them taking three people out of the van on backboards. The driver of the van told me that he was bringing his granddaughter home from the hospital... and they were almost home. The guy driving the car started to get a little belligerent with the female state trooper. "Easy there, big fella," I said, "She's just doing her job." He was going to get a citation for failure to control speed. He seemed to think that it was "just an accident."
I went back to check the truck again... other than a bent electrical connector for the trailer connection, I couldn't see any damage. I will check it again in the daylight today. The van definitely got the worst of it, but it was still drivable. After all the paperwork and giving statements to the trooper, Joan suggested that we follow the van to his house to make sure it would get there. That man was very grateful. He was worried about his daughter and teenage grandkids and needed to get another vehicle so he could go to the hospital to check on them.
So, it turned out to be a long night. Before it was over, three ambulances took 4 people to the hospital - no one had any obvious external injuries. We have some aches this morning. As soon as it's light out, I'll check out Big Red closer. Joan said it well: "Sure glad we were in a big, solid truck."
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