Freaky

Sedona, Arizona ~ Miles traveled: 3,800 give or take
Later tonight or tomorrow I'll post an in depth account of my trip to the Grand Canyon, including a two day stop over at Havasu Falls, probably one of the most gorgeous places in the lower 48. But first, I have to get the accident I experienced expunged from my brain, and hopefully if I post about it, it will start to leave.

I was driving East on Highway 40, about 10 miles before Flagstaff, when all of the sudden I heard this huge "whoosh" behind me, like one of my back windows had ripped open. I look in my rearview mirrors in time to see a huge cloud of dust come up from the fast lane next to me, and then a truck go careening into the ditch that divides the highway. The truck was probably traveling around 80, and it barrels into the ditch, almost rolls, and smacks into a group of rocks at the bottom. I think for a second, and then pull over; by the time I was able to actually stop, I was about three hundred yards ahead of the truck. I jump out of Trudel (wearing Birkenstocks, of course), and I run across the highway to where the truck lay smoking, it's back right tire still spinning. At this point, a few other cars had stopped, and I was the third person to actually arrive on scene. Before I even got to the truck, I could see blood spattered on the windshield and the truck itself was totaled.

The driver's side door was wedged against rocks and unable to be opened - I showed up on the passenger side with one other guy to find a mess; the woman, who's name I would later learn is Shannon Duffy, was lying in the car unable to move, her shirt was off and being held to the deep cut on her forehead, and she was moaning and complaining of pain in her arms and head. Since the truck was pitched upwards on some rocks, the passenger side door would not stay open without someone holding it, so I dug my sandled feet into the loose gravel and propped open the door. Shannon pulled the shirt off of her head to reveal a deep and nasty cut above her right eye, but the bleeding had stopped, so we figured that was a good sign. The two other guys and I kept talking to her, trying to keep her alert, and someone yelled down from the road that an ambulance was coming. Shannon kept saying she needed her cell phone because she had to call her boyfriend because it was his truck and he needed to know. At this point, we noticed a babyseat in the back and there was a tense moment while we made sure there wasn't an infant in the car. There wasn't, and Shannon continued to ask for her cell phone. We couldn't find it, and she alternated between moaning in pain and crying in anger and frustration.

At this point I'd been propping the door open for about 10 minutes, and my arm was starting to tire, but there was nothing to do but keep it open. Then the police showed up, along with firemen, and soon I noticed that all the original bystanders had left, leaving me to prop open the door while the paramedics extricated Shannon from the truck. I asked one of the paramedics how she was, and he responded that the cut was nasty and her left pupil was blown, but she appeared not to have any life threatening injuries. Ten minutes later she was out, and one of the police officers asked if I would mind holding the door open for one more minute while he inventoried the car. At this point I minded, but I agreed, thinking it was the least I could do to help out in this situation where I felt rather helpless. The car was quickly inventoried, the police took my statement, and their theory is that she was trying to change clothes while driving and lost control of the car, hence the reason she was shirtless when I arrived. I believe they said she was driving home to Phoenix after a weekend at the Grand Canyon.

It was a sobering moment to think how quickly things can change. One moment you're driving home after a fun weekend, and the next your car is smashed up in a ditch and your pupil is blown. With all the driving I'm doing, it's scary to think how easily it could be me in that ditch. I've been in my fair share of accidents, and thankfully I've never been seriously injured (although I did crack an elderly woman's rib when I totaled my first car, something I haven't thought about for a long time, and something I still feel very bad about). I'm a pretty cautious driver now, and this is a reminder to continue that pattern. Shannon Duffy, wherever you are, I hope everything turns out okay.