Yep. Brambleberry Fairy and I were headed home after a quick trip to the post office and the IGA. We were going somewhere between 35-40 mph on the Alaska Hwy. Suddenly a moose appeared as if from thin air right in front of our vehicle. I tried to put on the breaks without straight slamming them down, to avoid a bad fish tailing scene. The next 15 seconds played out in slow motion. I had time to tell Brambleberry Fairy, "Stay calm. We are going to be ok. We are probably going to hit this moose. We're ok." SLAM!!! (with sort of a metal busting smash mixed in there). We hit his back-side and he fell to the ground. But only partially. He managed to get up fairly quickly, and walked into the woods. It was then I noticed his friend out there waiting for him.
Shew. We were ok. The moose even appeared to be ok. Inspecting the truck would have to wait until I could move it to an area not filled with scared, angry, ginormous moose. I drove up the road a little bit. Brambleberry Fairy and I both remained calm throughout the ordeal though afterward, Brambleberry Fairy told me that was the "scardest" she had ever been in her life. I pulled into a driveway down the road a piece and found minimal damage to my fancy-schmancy chrome grill and bug guard.
Grateful for our safety, Brambleberry Fairy and I took the time to say a prayer of thanks. We asked that the moose be ok too. Stupid moose.
I didn't even notice this until we got back home. What is strange is that I didn't even hit the moose with my mirror. I guess the force of the collision just popped it right off.
6 Comments
Eep! Alaskan rite of passage? So glad you guys are okay! Stupid moose, indeed.
ReplyDeleteOh man. SO glad you are both safe! Alakan rite of passage indeedy. I bet there are a lot of stupid moose out there.
ReplyDeleteGlad you both are ok....You almost had meat for your freezer...next time don't slow down :) jk
ReplyDelete"Do-dee-do-dee-do hey Richard! Where should we eat lunch? I'm frikkin starv-"BLAYAM!!! Stupid moose.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad ya'll are okay, too. AND that that stupid moose is okay. What's kind of funny is that you actually had time and the good senses to tell Brambleberry Fairy: "Stay calm. We are going to be ok. We are probably going to hit this moose. We're ok." That seems like a lot to say in a quick lil second, but I guess when time movies in slo-mo, you can say lots of stuff.
They actually did a podcast about this phenomenon (where everything seems to get slower when, for example, you are falling or when something traumatic is happening) to see if time really did slow down for that person during that moment. The podcast is called Radiolab and the episode is called "Falling" I think. You would like Radiolab A LOT. It's so fun to listen to. Lots of cool sound effects and stuff also.
Yeah. I announced it that night at a gathering, kind of casually and people were shocked! One girl said, "You know most people that have lived here there entire lives, have never hit a moose." I never thought it would happen to me, because they move SO slow (usually). I couldn't imagine one ever jumping out in front of me (which they often do but this one didn't). It was just dark and foggy. I only had like 20 feet to react. I am just really grateful to God because I know it could have killed us. I also would like to thank my Mom and Dad for always teaching me to NEVER swerve too quickly away from an animal (if I had done this I would have surely gone off into the other lane and the woods because of the ice) and Chuck who told me to go 30 mph on the icy roads (ok so I was going faster than 30, but still). Thanks ya'll. And sister, who taught me to hold my eyes open as long as possible while sneezing and driving. It didn't apply in this case, but thanks for the tip anyway sister.
ReplyDeleteOh Goodness! I'm happy you and Little One are okay. Bummer about the truck. :(
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