>>HIGHWAY 287 AND A TID BIT ABOUT OUR CAR ACCIDENT

Last Friday, Curtis and I drove to Fort Collins, CO to pick up...you guessed it...a scooter. We decided to take highway 287, which is the highway we were on when we got in our car accident last January ('07). When we got to mile marker 368 (the place where it all took place) I noticed off to the side of the road, just up on the mountain a little bit, a pile of rocks that had been strategically placed by someone with a few fake flowers coming out the top of the pile. I'm sure this was done by the family and/or friends of the lady who died in the car accident. It was kind of weird to see that there and it brought back a lot of memories about that dreadful day.

For those of you who don't know the story and for those few of you who have recently asked about our accident, here are the details...

On January 26, 2007 Curtis and I were driving home from Fort Collins. It was a nice, sunny day, the roads were dry, and it was about 5 in the afternoon. We were driving on highway 287 which is a 2 lane, canyon highway that connects Laramie to Fort Collins. We were coming around a small curve and heading slightly uphill when out of the blue a car coming the opposite direction of us swerved right into our lane. As the driver tried to correct her mistake, their car slid sideways and we collided into each other at about 65 mph. It all happened so fast there was nothing we could have done to avoid the accident.

Our truck spun around and landed just off the side of the road. Their car ended up on the mountain side and was literally in 2 pieces. This is at least what we were told by spectators...we never actually saw the scene of the accident because we were both too injured to get out of our truck and look around. Many people came to help us and gave us blankets and jackets to keep us warm. It took about 30 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, then it took another 30 minutes to get to the hospital. The driver and passenger from the other car were taken by helicopter.

The passenger of the other car was not wearing her seat belt and she was ejected from the car and later died at the hospital. The driver was pretty banged up (I don't know the details of all of her injuries), but she ended up staying just down the hall from us at the hospital. We spent a week on the trama floor at Poudre Valley Hospital in Colorado.

As far as our injuries...I blacked out for a few seconds right after the accident. I didn't know what had just happened, other than I was in tons of pain, I couldn't breathe and I was totally freaked out by all of the blood on Curtis. His seat belt broke and he hit the windshield pretty hard. His face and hands were all cut up and were bleeding quite badly. He bruised his sternum, cracked a few ribs, and we were still pulling glass out of his head weeks later. I had a collapsed lung, broke several ribs, broke my collar bone, cracked a couple of vertebraes, and knocked a bone out of place in my foot. We are both pretty sure we broke or cracked our tailbones because it hurt to sit for several weeks.

The passenger and driver of the other car were both illegal immigrants, had NO car insurance, and to top things off, were both drunk!! The driver is now in prison for vehicular homicide.

I still think about our car accident all the time...obviously. It was so scary and I am just so thankful that we both survived and are doing so well now. Those who first approached our car after the accident told us they weren't sure what to expect, meaning they didn't know if we were alive or not....pretty frightening. I know we were being watched over and protected. There is no other way to describe it other than that.

I'm so thankful for all of the people who emailed us and sent us such kind letters, for those who helped us out financially, who brought us meals, prayed for us, etc, etc. We felt so loved during those rough couple of months and I'm so thankful for all of the wonderful people who were there to help.

If there is any advice I can give...say your prayers, wear your seat belt and don't drink and drive!!!

Here are a few pics of the accident. We were in the Toyota pick-up and they were in the Ford Escort.

(You can see here how their car was torn in 2)

(Here's our little truck. We sure miss this truck, but he sure handled the crash like a champ.)