Strange times to be on the highway

Good morning, friends.  I'm happy to be at home this morning.  Allow me to explain....

As I've mentioned frequently here, I travel extensively for my job, almost entirely by car.  It's a grind sometimes, but for the most part I enjoy the work I do and feel it makes a difference to certain people.

This is not a complaint about business travel.

I took an extra day following Memorial Day last Tuesday, so when Wednesday rolled around, I had to get out and see some business contacts.  Went Wednesday to Radcliff, Kentucky, which is near Fort Knox (which was not where my business contacts were!) and conducted three meetings of varying success.

The following day I traveled to southern Indiana, by way of Louisville, Kentucky, for meetings with a new contact and with a longtime customer.  Both went well.  I left Jeffersonville, Indiana around 3:30 that afternoon, crossed the Ohio River into downtown Louisville and proceeded on my way back to Lexington.  No big deal, right?

I got through the eastern part of Louisville and hit a major backup soon after.  It was clear something had happened, as there was a backup of several miles of cars and trucks.  Crept my way through to where the backup originated, and saw that I-64 was closed eastbound right at I-265, one of the major bypasses around Louisville.  Vehicles were diverted onto the northbound lanes of I-265 and I knew what would come next and exited at my first opportunity onto US 60 eastbound.  As did most everyone else, so a drive of 90 minutes turned into about four hours total.  I stopped at the rest area when I reached I-64, which was moving nicely by that time, and two workers at that rest stop said there had been a fatality on the highway and police had closed the road to address what had happened.

I counted myself lucky that all it cost me was some time.

The following day, last Friday, I left home in a pouring rain (it's rained a lot over the past six weeks) and headed toward Cincinnati, where I had two meetings scheduled.  I made my way to I-75 and proceeded north.  The rain increased and lessened several times and by 8:45 or so it had settled into a steady rain but not as bad as it had been.

I neared the intersection of I-71 and I-75, which all becomes one northbound highway, and instinctively moved to the right lane, anticipating much more traffic.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, my car was struck from behind!  The impact and the wet roadway caused me to spin and I found myself directly in the path of a tractor-trailer, FACING the truck!  And within a few seconds the truck struck the front of my car, as it could not avoid hitting my car.

That second impact sent me spinning again, and I eventually crashed sideways into the concrete lane divider separating the northbound lanes from those heading south.  As best I remember, I yelled after the first impact from behind and again when confronted with the oncoming truck.

I got out, looked up and down the driver's side of my car and was surprised not to find the entire side of the car heavily damaged.  I reached inside for a hat and saw the truck parked on the inside median about fifty yards ahead.  The driver came running, asked me multiple times if I was OK, and I answered that I was pretty shaken up but OK otherwise.  He pointed at the car that struck mine just down the road on the right side of the highway and said he was going to check on them and that I should call 911 and I did.

The operator was helpful, asked for basic information and said that officers would be coming soon.  Two came, one to my side of the highway and the other to the right side to help the driver and passengers who struck my car.  The deputy who arrived behind me asked me several times if I was all right, and whether I could drive my car.  I answered that I was and that I thought the car was drivable.  With their help we were all able to move our vehicles up the road to a gas station with room for trucks at the exit up ahead.  The officers took my driver's license and insurance card and did the same with the other drivers and began to compile the accident report.

I spoke with the driver of the car that started it all and he was very apologetic and he and his wife also said they were very glad that I was all right, and the trucker came over and did the same.  He said that when he saw my car in front of him he lifted his foot off the accelerator and prayed.

Apparently it worked.

So there's damage on the left rear corner of the car and on the right front corner, but no other body damage.  But the air conditioner is not working and a little online searching illustrated that in a frontal or front corner collision often the A/C components can be damaged, so I'll leave that to the professionals.

I'm still shaken from what happened, but getting past it.  Getting the car fixed will help.

So if you're driving anywhere today, please be careful.....