Wednesday, December 28, 2005
7000 lb Expedition vs 2000 lb Moose, and the winner is...my family of 4 inside.
We were involved in a horrible head on collision with a very large MOOSE on Christmas day, coming home from visiting the in-laws (see, I knew we shouldn't have gone). It was dark and foggy and those of you who know anything about moose know that they are just stupid, dumb animals. Really, they are. Their brains are about the size of an actual walnut. Their eyes do not reflect like deer, their coat is as dark as night and they are not deterred by headlights or car horns.
Note the moose hair caught on the windshield in the third picture.
Thank GOD were were in the FORD EXPEDITION ( I will advertise for them until I die, which is what most definately would have happened if we driving a vehicle any smaller). The game warden statistics are that only 1% of people who hit a moose actually walk away with no major injuries or death.The game warden, sheriff, and state trooper were amazed that not a single one of us was hurt. They said it was the worst they had seen this year. That highway is notorious for moose and has a high fatality rate but the state refuses to put street lights or push for cell service. The third row window was kicked in my the moose hoofs as he was flipped around. I cry every time I think about how he just missed the middle window right next to where our 3 yo was sitting.
We are very thankful to be alive!!
There are NO cell towers where it happened (this particular highway area being woodland Maine).
I am thankful to all the people that stopped to make sure we were OK, and help us push the truck over to the side of the road, and who then drove to the next town (30min) and called the police.
I am thankful to the 60ish couple from Nova Scotia Canada (GO FELLOW CANADIANS) who actually made room in their small Civic for us 4 and drove us all the way to our house! (~1 hour away). I got their name and address from them and will be sending them a nice thank-you basket.
Thank you Good Samaritans !!!
The next day at the Auto Body place we took some pictures when we went back to get all our belongings and xmas presents which were left behind. It didn't look any better the next day in the daylight.
The kids saw it happen - they heard and felt the loud thud, were rocked forward in their car seats, then saw the moose smash against the windshield. Our 2 yo starting wimpering but we quickly told him everything was OK then he was fine. The 3yo wanted to know what happened:
3 yo: "Mama what happened to the truck?"
Me : " We hit a Moose"
3 yo: "How come we hit a moose?"
Me: "we didn't mean to hit a moose, he just walked right in front of the truck"
3 yo: " how come he walked right in front of the truck?"
Me: ...pause "because he didn't look both ways before crossing the highway, remember how mama and dada always say to look both ways and always hold a grown-up's hand? Well the moose didn't look both ways and he forgot to hold a grown ups hand"
3 yo: "yeah, he forgot to look"
Then they went back to watching the DVD which for some reason was still working even though we lost power for every other part of the truck .
Since I was driving I got the brunt of all the shards of glass and my door wouldn't open so after climbing out and getting the kids out all my 3yo cared about was wanting to see the moose. The 2 yo kept repeating "uh oh, trucka broken" (he's fanatic about cars and trucks)
Yesterday for pre-school they took some of the pictures and a couple of the moose hairs to show their friends.
Have a happy new year everyone!
PS. I got a BIKE! Bianchi Boadwalk, more about that next post...
PPS. Did I already say I LOVE FORD EXPEDITIONS?!!!
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