Oh Deer

Background to set the stage - Grandma and grandpa have been planning to go to Utah for months.   I think the original plan for for them to be there for Conference (first weekend in October).   But they had a little accident in there car in September.  Someone ran into them when they were stopped a red light in Lethbridge.  It took six weeks for them to get their car fixed.   They got it back a week ago Tuesday  and it looked great.  We left for SLC Thursday last week.
         

We started driving home on Thursday this week.   On the road between Butte and Helena we encountered blowing snow with whiteout conditions.   We followed a semi going about 30 - 35 miles an hour.   Then the snow stopped but we had snow covered roads but the sanding trucks had been through so it wasn't that bad.   On one pass however, there was shear ice.  No sanding trucks had been there yet.   It was on the downhill for us.   It was probably one of the worst roads I've driven on - ice on a hill.  But the driver in the truck in front of me was smart (or he just did what the truck in front of him did).   He drove so the tires on one side of the vehicle were on the rumble strip (the ones that wake you up if you drive over them).   I did the same and it gave us enough traction to keep us from sliding all over.    In the inside lane there were vehicles that weren't so lucky.  They had stopped because they were sliding into the guardrail on the left side.   The folks in Hawaii may not remember this but sometimes the road is so slippery that when you try to drive you slide downhill even if its sideways.   That is what was happening to them.   On the uphill side of the road even the sanding truck was not moving and there was as about a mile of vehicles just sitting there because they couldn't make it up the hill.  But we safely made it to Helena.
     

All of that just to set the stage - and to let you know that we did have some scary driving.
    

Yesterday the weather was clear and warmer.   No snow or rain.   Excellent driving conditions.  We came through the border as it was getting dark.    I was driving by Warner and a deer jumped out in front on me from the median.   I slammed on the brakes and swerved to the left to miss it.   I thought we were going to miss it but it just caught the outside corner of the car.   So 10 days after they get it back from the body shop this happens.

We called 911 and it took about an hour for the RCMP to arrive.   He said it was because they got another 911 call about the same time we called from some else who hit a deer about 2 or 3 miles from where we were.   The RCMP responded to that call first.  Plus we didn't know where we were.   We were further down the road than we thought so he had to drive further down the highway to find us.   Ironically grandpa was looking at getting a GPS when we stopped at Costco in Helena but concluded he didn't need one because he would only be going place he knew how to get to.   As we waited for the RCMP to show up we realized that the GPS would have told us exactly where we were.


Another irony is that I accompanied them on the trip so they wouldn't have to drive.  (See Wilma's blog  - scroll down to see a picture of "Mom and Dad with their faithful and loving chauffeur.")  Family members worried about them driving that far by themselves.   Family members will now have to make sure someone accompanies me when I go places so they won't have to worry about me driving.
    
The good news was that while it looks bad, it appears to be only body damage and the car was drivable. The signal lights didn't work but the RCMP officer told us just to just give lots of notice before turning.  (Hmmm.  How do you do that at night if you don't have signal lights?)   He was actually a funny guy and could have done the report in half the time but he liked to chat.   He asked all about the Prius.  He told me that he took one for a test drive and thought he was on a space shuttle.   He also showed me the new on board camera in the police car that they have to record everything except it doesn't work because they haven't turned it on yet - they won't let them until they are trained.   That all came up because the moved the dome light to install the camera but the camera is in the way so that where he has to write is in a shadow.   This could also explain why it took him so long to get to us.  He visited with the other folks too -  I know that because he told me all about that accident.
    
We made it back to PB okay.
  
Trivia:  Did you know know that there are only 2 places you need a signal light between Warner and Picture Butte?