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?

:-\