The Accident - shaken, rattled, but NOT rolled.

During the last week of our vacation at Riverwood, I was enjoying my morning coffee and toasted English muffin when AC asked me what I would like to do that day. 

MMMM, everything tastes better at the farm.

I pondered the question as I munched and sipped.  Hmmm, what would I like to do today?  Riverwood is located about half hour north of  our old family cottage, and when I am at Riverwood I am often reminded of fun family times at the old cottage on Eel's Creek.  On this particular morning I remembered a little Wayside Chapel that my mom used to talk about, and loved to visit.  I thought I might like to take a walk down  memory lane, and snap some pictures of the little chapel in the beautiful autumn surroundings.

So that afternoon we set off along the winding country roads to find the Chapel.

We knew the drive along the country roads would be as beautiful as the destination.

We came around a  bend in the road, and there it was...as quaint as I remembered it. This picture was taken about an hour after the accident, as we had to wait that length of time for the police to arrive to make an accident report.  I thought I might as well take the pictures I had come for in the first place.

In the picture below, you can see the bend in the road we came around when we saw the flag out front of the Chapel.  We slowed down and prepared to make a left turn into the lane when we heard squealing brakes and before we knew it, we were hit from behind, sent across the oncoming lane of traffic, spun around and ended up on the edge of a ditch on the other side of the road facing in the opposite direction.

It is difficult to see from this picture, but the ditch was quite deep, and we landed precariously close to rolling over in it.  By the time we took this picture, we had moved the car forward a few feet so we could access the back of the car and assess damage.

The other car was a Caddy, and it was a crumpled mess.  The nose of this car went under our rear bumper.

The outside of our car didn't look bad,  We had one broken reflector light, a dropping muffler, and scratches on the bumper, but we couldn't see other damage until we opened the back door.

The underside was a crumpled mess, and the muffler was dragging down on the road.

We found a bungee cord and lifted the muffler up off the road so we could limp back to the farmhouse, as we weren't far away  when the accident happened. 

We didn't know what structural damage was done to the car, so we didn't want to drive it very far.  Calls to the insurance company were made, and we asked to be towed home, a distance of 213k's.  The towing company would only take us 200k's, and there was a closer repair shop in Peterborough, so it had to be towed to Peterborough instead of Ottawa.  Sigh.

Early the next morning a tow truck arrive at the farmhouse, and our little car was placed on the truck-bed for the long trip down to Peterborough.

All set and ready to go. We rode down to Peterborough in the cab of the truck so we could pick up a rental car.  It was a rather bumpy ride, but the driver was a very pleasant fellow, and he made the ride enjoyable with all his stories.

After a very long and wearying day spent in the car repair shop, car rental place, and walk-in clinic, we arrived back at the farmhouse around suppertime on Friday, with a rental vehicle that looked much like our car.   It wasn't as roomy though, and the ride just wasn't the same as a Honda.

Jeep Patriot, our rental car.

We spent the weekend at the farm wondering if we could get all our camping gear and luggage in the rental car and head home to Ottawa, or if we should stay in the area for a few more days to see if our car could be repaired.   I was really shaken up in the crash, and my neck and back were seizing up, so we decided to rest at the farm for a few days, and let my body unwind before trying to head home. 

Thanksgiving weekend was fast approaching, and we wanted to be home to share the festivities with family, but all our plans had to be put on hold.  We made a trip down to Peterborough to visit family on Monday, and make a stop at the car repair place to inquire about the car.  We then got the bad news that our car was a write-off, and we had to start the process of making claims with the insurance company and begin looking for a replacement vehicle. Groan!

We returned to the farmhouse, packed up what we could, and set off for home the next day.  We have been on a merry-go-round of insurance claims, new car searches, doctor's appts and myriad other things related to the accident ever since.

I am happy to report that we had a nice Thanksgiving weekend with family when we returned home, and we are now about to get off the merry-go-round, as we got a payout figure for our old car on Friday, and we found the perfect replacement car - another CRV - on Saturday.  We pick it up next Friday when we return the rental car.   I start physio this week for my neck and back pain, so we are moving forward.