BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure

Subject: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 01:56 PM

Myself and my Lovely Wife drove up to 'The Soo' to visit family on Thursday... driving up the I-75, about 3:30 in the afternoon, a few feet outside of Gaylord, in the right hand lane, we hit a bit of a snow patch/drift, that was deeper and looser than it looked (If I only had a DIME for every time I've said THAT!)... we started to fishtail to the left. The sensation of being in a car whose wheels no longer have a connection to the road is unlike any other weightlessness I've found so far. While steering into the skid we clipped one of those short metal 'posts' they sink into the dirt every 50 feet or so with the reflectors on the top of them with the back end of the left side of the car... that impact spun us back to the right... We caromed across 2 lanes of traffic and off the side of the road... Slid sideways for 40 or 50 more feet or so and came to a shuddering stop facing the highway, where the first words out of my mouth were, "We're o.k.".... Which was, I'm happy to report, the absolute truth... *whispered* but now ever time I close my eyes I still see that semi truck that was in the right hand lane...

It took hardly a second, and it took hours at the exact same time... I could count the water droplets as they hit the windshield, and obscured the view of the now strangely small and distant Mac truck that years and milliseconds ago I was totally concerned about... I even had time to think of "Paul" from "The Fionavar Tapestry"... And to wonder if I was going to have to try to find The Summer Tree for myself... I could say I almost heard a voice say "Do pay attention, Mr Schafer"... (Guy Kay fans'll get that...)

So... to all my fellow Mudcatters... drive safe... keep your seat belts on...

Better to have to cope with flashes and images and bad dreams, than to not be around to have such. She and I are physically, fine... if just a little stiff and sore from 'stress'...

Lemme also add this...

I hear a LOT of Canadians saying a LOT of negative stuff about our brothers and sisters who live on the other side of our southern border.... Some even take to it like it's our Canadian Responsibility or our National Sport to be bigoted towards Americans... I'm here to tell you such Canadians all full of shit! Without exception, the people we met from the couple of couples who stopped to check on us almost before -we'd- come to a stop, right up to the guy who came to get us at the hotel the next day to take us back to the Ford dealer, were golden... When the dude... Ross I think was his name, at the Big Buck where we finally got some dinner into us heard the story, he bought US a big round of beer!

So, the long and the short of it is, I suppose... if yer gonna crash yer car, do it in Gaylord...

And if you're one of my fellow Canadians who is such an anti-American bigot, I'm here to call you out!

The car, well... it's seems to be running fine after the Gaylord Ford guys had their way with it... but we're gonna have to try to save some $$ to get some body work done... and replace a lost hub-cap...

*weak smile*

Anyone wanna buy a Boss ME-10 multi-effects guitar peddle? Maybe a late 60's-early 70's Harmony Tenor guitar?

:-\

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Amos
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:01 PM

Dear Gawd, Clinton, yer giving me a heart attack just reading about it!! I bet you could write a whole verse about each second of that long vivid slide.

Thanks be you made it to a safe stop!


A

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: robomatic
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:07 PM

Well, CH, I'm glad you and your wife were unharmed. I recall breaking down on my first trip up to Alaska in British Columbia, and everyone who stopped and asked if there was anything they could do to help had Canadian plates (there were other plates not so thoughtful). I have no illusions that our Canadian neighbors (to the North when i'm in Massachusetts, to the Southeast when I'm in Alaska) are regular folks with their own damn attitudes and even their own history. They don't agree with us, they sometimes sound as if they feel superior to us. But I love Canada. I love the Peace Bridge. I love the fish 'n chips invariably prepared by Greek immigrants. I love the beautiful Ukrainian lasses from Vancouver I got a chance to folk dance with. I love La Bottine Souriante the Frantics, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, Rich Little and even William Shatner.

I have not forgotten that Canadians helped rescue some of our people held hostage in Iran before the rest were let go.

I sincerely hope you guys are able to keep it together.

Thanks for the kind words.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: annamill
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:14 PM

Wow! Now that is scary! Whew! I'm so glad you both came out of it ok.

Where, exactly, is Gaylord? Near whatpart of which state?

Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:14 PM

just a little stiff and sore from 'stress'...

and boy can that add up to a lot of soreness!

Glad you're okay. but unlike Robomatic - I'm not willing to go so far as to say I love Shatner.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:16 PM

Really, really glad to hear you are both okay!! It's a scarey damn thing to go through.

Hang on to yer hats...it's a bumpy ride!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: jacqui.c
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:25 PM

Glad you got out of that with no real problems. I hope that both of you recover from the shock quickly.

An incident like that can change your views on a lot of things.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 02:57 PM

Clinton, that was a graphic piece of writing. You had us in the car with you. And I love the line: "We're OK."

Watch out for the 9lives thing. This one took it down a notch! May you always be so fortunate.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Don Firth
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 03:20 PM

Ye Gawds, Clinton! My knuckles turned white as I was reading that!

Some years ago, I had stopped at a drive-in and bought lunch (Big Mac or some such wet cardboard sandwich and a big cuppa coffee), and I was driving down to a parking area overlooking Seattle's Green Lake to relax and chow down. I had to cross E. Green Lake Way (busy thoroughfare) to get to the area, and the light was with me, so I kept right on going. Suddenly, on my right, I saw an SUV (bloody great tank!) speeding along Green Lake Way, and in a split second it became evident that he was going to shoot right through the red light (his way) at about the same instant I'd be going through the intersection. Too close! We were both going too fast to stop in time.

I whipped the steering wheel to the left (wrong side of the road, but no one was coming my way), and at that instant, he saw me and romped on the binders. He was still moving fast as I hit the accelerator and passed in front of him in the oncoming lane relative to me. We missed each other by about the thickness of my paint and the chrome-plating on his front bumper. I then whipped the steering wheel back to the right to get back on my own side of the street.

He stopped in the middle of the street several car-lengths beyond the intersection (his tires were smoking), and I pulled over to the right curb and parked for a moment to reassemble myself. We both looked at each other. We were both shaking. I don't know what he was thinking, but I was giving thanks for the solid traction of the new steel-belted radials on my Honda Civic and the feeling that I was on rails as I did semi-impossible maneuvers. The impulse was to call him an idiot at the top of my lungs, but he looked wide-eyed and white as a sheet, and it was obviously that he was aware he had goofed—run a red light—so I let it go. We gave each other a tentative wave, and went our separate ways.

It's amazing how, in situations like that, time can seem to expand, even though only a couple of seconds of real time pass. I was acutely aware of speeds, trajectories, possible g-forces if I tried to avoid a collision by cutting the corner and whipping a left turn (wouldn't have made it—radials of not, I'd have slid broadside into a light pole), and made a couple of calculated decisions ("No! No! Yes! Maybe. . . .") in less than a second.

Been there. Done that. At least a similar kind of danger. That's why the heart started pounding, I got knots in my stomach, and my knuckles turned white as I read your post. Damned well written, by the way. Evocative.

Glad you and yours are okay!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Cool Beans
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 03:46 PM

Clinton,
    Glad you and the Ms. each came out of it in one piece. My daughter totaled her car on I-75 in Detroit on an icy night last November. She's OK. A man passing by in a tow truck rescued her. There are vast reservoirs of kindness in Michigan, and everywehre else, I suspect.
    I know exactly where the Gaylord Big Buck is.
    Annamill, hold up your left hand, with its back facing you. Gaylord is just above the big knuckle of your middle finger. That's how we do geography in Michigan.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:00 PM

Whew. Quite a piece of gonzo journalism, there! The time-slowing-down thing is really amazing if you actually experience it.

I once came very close to hitting someone as I was going one way into a tunnel that had a sign in front of it that said Avertissez! (this was in France) which I didn't understand in time. It turned out to mean HONK BECAUSE THIS IS A ONE-LANE TUNNEL EVEN THOUGH IT IS A TWO-WAY, 2-LANE ROAD. So I went merrily by the sign into the tunnel and practically straight into a van coming the other way. We both swerved and each went up onto the kerb, missed each other, and rattled down to the street level again. We both stopped, stuck our heads out the window and looked back at the other guy, decided we were both OK, gave that weak wave Don Firth described, and went on our way. My mom said, very quietly, Avertissez means Give Warning, by the way. (My French is usually better than hers, FYI.) ;)

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Bert
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:48 PM

Glad you're all safe. It's kinda fun to get the adrenaline flowing though.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: MBSLynne
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:50 PM

Made all my hair stand on end. Ch...you sometimes irritate the hell out of me, but I'm really glad you are ok

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Cluin
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:53 PM

You're luck is still holding, buck! Glad to hear it. Good thing it didn't happen on the Mackinac Bridge; it has to others.

Been in a few spinouts myself. And you're correct; there's no feeling like that one you get when you realize you have NO control over the vehicle you're in. Your fate is up for grabs in a few short seconds that last years. I too have been lucky.

And I couldn't agree more about our neighbours to the south. Great folk. Lots of friends there.

But no call when you got to town?... We could have met for a pint. There's a good new place here now.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Big Mick
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:56 PM

Thank God you and the Missus are OK. That was a very close call. I am very familiar with that area. Thank goodness you were close to a town. It can get a little remote up in that area. Lay off this shit, bud. I don't need to be losing friends.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 04:58 PM

Yikes! I and all the others in the Clinton Hammond Fan Club got the shakes reading that. I'm very glad you and your wife didn't get hurt, Clinton. I've had experiences quite similar to the one you describe, and it's amazing how one's perception of time changes in such moments.

(As for Americans, it's their government I take exception to...they themselves are mostly great people, in my experience.)

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 05:04 PM

" But no call when you got to town?... We could have met for a pint."

That was about to be the subject of an email.. but the 24 hour lay-over in Gaylord, and the need to be calming and soothing with mothers made for a very short, sorta laser-focused visit mate... I saw little more than dining room tables and dinner plates the whole time I was there...

"There's a good new place here now.""
Now THAT is great news! I will be back... keep the place open for me until then eh mate!

"I don't need to be losing friends."
Neither you or Lynne are lucky enough to be quit of me THAT easily!

:-)

"when you realize you have NO control over the vehicle you're in"

*touch the break*
*touch the break*
*shrug*
*fold arms across chest*
"well, there's no point in steering now!"

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 05:25 PM

Glad to hear you're okay. The title made me nervous for a minute there.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: annamill
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 05:39 PM

Cool Beans,

"Annamill, hold up your left hand, with its back facing you. Gaylord is just above the big knuckle of your middle finger."

Cool Beans, are you giving me the finger??

Do you feel I was being rude?? I didn't mean to be. Clinton made it sound so nice I thought I would like to visit there sometime but I had no idea where it is. So I asked.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 05:51 PM

No no no...

Michigan is roughly the shape of a hand, seen from the 'back'.... So it's common parlance with Michiganders to use their own hand as a 'map' when they're talking about Michigan locations...

Thusly speaking 'Gaylord' is just about located at the middle-finger knuckle on your own left hand... In such terms.. I live in Windsor, Ontario... right across the river from Michigan's "first thumb knuckle"...

Big Mick lives almost on the left side of the wrist joint...

Get the analogy Annamill?

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 05:52 PM

Slow the heck down, Wild Man...

Awww, jus' funnin' wid ya...

As fir Americans. most of us like to help out fellow man. Just as long as it out own idea... I carry a 40 foot heavy chain (weighs about 80 pounds) in my 4 wheel drive truck and over the last 20 years of livin' in the mountains have pulled quite a few folks outtta snowbanks, ditches, etc...

Glad that you and Mrs. is okay...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: annamill
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:08 PM

Oh. (giggle) I'm certainly glad to hear that! Thank you Clinton. Sorry Cool Beans. So all I need now is a map of Michigan.

Love, Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Cluin
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:09 PM

When people say Michigan look like a big hand (or oven mitt), they are forgetting about the U.P. The poor Yoopers feel left out of things.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:09 PM

www.mapquest.com

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Cluin
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:13 PM

And a liitle humour I heard on Mackinac Island this summer...




Why is Michigan shaped like a hand?



So that every now and then it can reach down and slap the hell outta Ohio.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:25 PM

Having done something similar myself -- rotating 180 degrees -- and knowing I-75 as I do...geez, man, I'm glad your both okay.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 06:36 PM

Glad to hear you and your wife are OK.

A good few years ago my ex-wife fell asleep at the wheel and we ended up facing the wrong direction after striking the central barrier with a whole load of traffic coming towards us. I can empathise with that time slowing down feeing.

Best of luck

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:21 PM

And that was one of the best descriptions of such a spinout I've heard in a long time. You oughta write for the newspapers, Clinton.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:30 PM

"Why is Michigan shaped like a hand?"

Look at the shape of Florida... do you have to ask???


LOL

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:32 PM

Glad you are both OK. Cars are easier to fix than people.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Mingulay
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:36 PM

Having been in a spin and rollover I know the feeling. The senses shut down as if put on hold, 1 second = 1 year and you suddenly realise that adrenaline is brown.

Glad you both got out OK.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: number 6
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 07:45 PM

Been there myself .... all senses go into slow mo, all visual went into black and white. Good to see you came out ok. Unfortuanetly a friend of mine hit an icy patch this winter, spun out, and was killed.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 10:46 PM

It turned out to mean HONK BECAUSE THIS IS A ONE-LANE TUNNEL EVEN THOUGH IT IS A TWO-WAY, 2-LANE ROAD.

New Zealand has an even better one. All down the west Coast of South island, the highway crosses several bridges over wide ( few hundred yards ) rivers. It does so on one way bridges, that are shared with the railroad. The driver was quite careful on these....

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: M.Ted
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 12:46 AM

Clinton (and Cool Beans)--I had the exact same thing happen on 1-75, but a lot farther down the map, and many years ago--you described the experience perfectly--including the amazing way that time gets stretched! I also ended up facing traffic on the side of the road, uninjured--I learned a lot about driving on slick roads real fast--

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 04:33 AM

Glad you're both OK, CH.
You be careful now, y'hear?

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 04:48 PM

We were being careful...

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: PoppaGator
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 05:24 PM

Nice piece of writing.

I vividly remember going into a spin on an icy off-ramp in Chicago sometime during the winter of 1967/68. It's amazing how time slows down once you lose control! I was driving someone else's '65 Mustang (the owner was, er, incapacitated), overloaded with 6 or maybe even 7 college punks.

I remember saying out loud, "You're supposed to steer into the skid, right?," and getting verification from one very calm backseat driver. We traded several lines of talk back and forth while spinning down the ramp, reassuring each other that I was doing the right thing with the steering wheel ~ seemed like a half-hour or more, but it was probably no more than 10-20 seconds before we came to a halt, still in the center of our lane.

As luck would have it, a Chicago cop was sitting in his cruiser at the foot of the ramp. I was expecting to catch hell from him when I saw him approach, and there was also an issue involving some illegal substances in our group's joint possession -(wink)- but Mr. Policeman just asked if everyone was OK, told me "Nice Driving!" and let us go on our way

I probably would not have done nearly so good a job keeping the car on all four wheels without my buddy talking me through the process during those many l-o-o-o-n-g seconds.

So, we started the car back up and proceeded to the Electric Ballroom, or whatever the name of that place was. I think we were going to see John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers that Saturday night.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 08:22 PM

Glad you are both safe Clinton. Times like that make you appreciate what is important. "We're OK" says it all.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Teresa
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:48 PM

Oh my gods! Wowee, I was in the car with you with that description. Glad you're ok. :)

Teresa

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Mooh
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 10:45 PM

Both sorry and relieved to hear this, and glad you made it alive. Happy trails from now on!

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 12:59 PM

"Happy trails from now on!"

I might just stay close to home for a while first...

heh

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 02:26 PM

I get the same sinking feeling when reading about your highway hijinx as when I contemplate riding the Titan rollercoaster at Six Flags. No way in hell would I do either of those things voluntarily. Glad to read that you're both okay.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: ClintonHammond & His I-75 Misadventure
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 02:32 PM

Rollercoasters are MADE to give you that feeling... I trust them!

LOL