Jesus Take the Wheel

Please play the song to the left while you read this post.

So I have yet again been involved in a crisis. I think I am a cat and I am exercising my right to nine lives. I was driving down Morgan canyon this morning after a light snow had fallen. The right lane was the only one plowed. I had just slowed down to make my way into the canyon when I could feel myself lose the back end of my truck. I started correcting, but after several corrections I started getting more out of control. I finally spun around and hit the snow embankment on the shoulder and my car flipped and started rolling. Just as I felt myself going in the air I let the steering wheel go and put my hands over my head. I kept thinking how will I survive this? It seemed so fast. But I remember I didn't feel much jarring or anything hitting the side of me. In fact it felt like I didn't move at all. Horror struck as my truck came to a stop upside down and the entire cab filled with snow. It was like an avalanche. At the same moment I went to take a breath but my airways were blocked by a wall of snow. I suddenly felt disoriented, but I knew I had to get out. I started clawing the snow from my face and grabbing to release my seat belt. I barely remember what seemed to be a very narrow opening out the passenger side. I started clawing as fast as I could through the snow. As I was doing this I could hear the engine still running. A second wave of panic went through as I thought about the truck igniting in flames. I crawled through the opening and got to my feet and started running up the hill. As I approached the top a couple hauling a semi had stopped and were out of the truck to greet me. There was a woman there who ran to me and immediately embraced me in her arms. I was hyper ventilating out of fear and started to sob. By that time more cars were pulling to the shoulder. Everyone was so helpful. They got me into their vehicles and kept me warm while we waited for highway patrol.

I felt right away that I was not hurt. The only thing that concerned me was loosening my recent head injury. The paramedics came and I took another ambulance ride into Ogden Regional Hospital. I was able to get a hold of my trauma team, Jolyn and Jen, who showed up shortly. After a series of cat scans and x-rays I was released.

Now it was time to go to the Tow Yard. I said to Jolyn that I felt like I would see the truck and think it wasn't so bad. To the contrary, when we arrived my stomach sank and I was moved to tears. The roof of the truck was almost all level with the hood of my truck. There was no room in the cab at all! The tow truck driver was amazed that I was up and walking. He said the entire cab was filled with snow from the embankment my truck ended up on. He sent pictures to our phones of the truck before it was put up right. He said the only thing that got me out of that truck alive and without injury was pure adrenaline.

The pictures don't do it much justice. Surprisingly the hood and tailgate were basically unharmed. But the sides of the truck were dented and scratched. There was not a window left in the truck. The back seat was still completely compact with snow. When we started digging through my items we realized the only thing holding the roof from collapsing to the seats was my center console that I had upright. Had it been folded down I would have been stuck on the driver side and unable to claw out of the snow embankment.

It seems so surreal. I almost feel like I have forgotten about it already. I am starting to feel some soreness, but I can't forget the feeling like someone or something was holding me so still in that car. I estimated it rolled about six times, but the people who witnessed thought it was more than that. You will see in the pictures that the vehicle is quite a ways from the road. I kept looking at the truck and thinking, "How am I alive? Why am I alive?" I am very humble and I feel so lucky to be alive. I literally walked away from the accident. Please wear your seat belts if you don't already! They have saved my life on more than one occasion now.