Not more than 2 weeks behind the wheel of my GTI, I ask Kristen to come along with me to my school. We're moseying on down the highway, my confidence level pretty high for being a beginner at stick, when this moron decides he doesn't know where he's going to go so he just slams on his breaks and chills there in the middle of the highway. Well, hello there Mr. I'm Retarded and Can't Read the Signs Right in Front of My Face, my front bumper almost kissed his back bumper. I slammed on the breaks and was so flustered I forgot to drop it down to 1st and wasn't going anywhere. Remember, people are coming at me from behind at 70 mph. I pulled over with the little momentum she (my car is a female) had, took a breath and got back on the highway. Kristen said I handled it well, or maybe I was forcing her to agree with me because I was still a bit shaken up.
That's incident number one. Number two was a bit more scary and I say that because I wasn't actually driving. I was the backseat driver, the most important person in the car, at the time. I have a tendency, okay I'm lying, I always slam on the floorboard in hopes that Nick will somehow how feel my vibe and do the same thing I'm doing. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I just get yelled at. Anyway, as we were going through Atlanta on our way to Louisiana, we see this car all of sudden weave to the left just barely missing the cement wall. Then the motorcyclist following him weaved into the other lane. Only then did I see a huge fucking metal ladder laying on the ground. It's as if the person who owned it opened it up and laid it horizontally perfectly across just our lane. Rather than scream, I thought of all the damage it was about to do to my 3 week old car. I thought, 2 flat tires, fucked up rims, scratches all over the white paint. I was so busy with my thoughts that Nick yelled for me and swerved and just BARELY got around it. I don't know how he did it. We stopped at the closest gas station and made sure everything was good, and it was. Phew.
Everything was calm for a little while after the whole ladder deal, until about a week ago. I took the man to school last Tuesday and while I was driving home some lady was waving frantically in her car for me to pull over. She had me scared to death so I waited till I got closer to my complex and pulled over on the left side, something I never do. She drove up to the passenger side window and let me know that my "side view mirror was folded in." I didn't hear her. I went numb. Because when I pulled over I could hear the sound of rim being scratched by the curb. Part of me wanted to get out and kick her ass for making me think I had a dead kid stuck under my car, but instead she drove off and I got out to look at the damage. I cried, but Nick was able to buff it out. Here's what it looked like.
I'll have to post an after picture. Nick did a great job. I can't even tell where the scratches were.
Today, was by far the scariest weather related driving I've ever experienced. I was on way to pick Pieter up from school and had to drive 10mph the entire way. I couldn't see anything but the occasional flashers from the car in front of me. I couldn't even see the curb to pull over so I just kept going. I got him out of class and we headed out. My GPS told me to go left to get to his Dr's appointment but all I could see was rippling water so I didn't chance it. I went the other way, and as I turned the corner I ended up in a puddle that was probably about 2.5 feet deep. My car would not move. I put it in first and stepped on the gas and made it out. The guy behind me wasn't so lucky. At the next stop my GPS told me to go left again, but that wasn't going to happen. The police were turning people around because the road had flooded so much that a UPS truck and lady in a buick were stuck in the water. The buick was actually floating. I was shaking so bad. We made it safely to Pieter's appointment, but did have to stop in traffic because of another weather related accident. Remind me again, why I live here?
I'm sure there will be a lot more situations like these, I just hope they aren't as scary!
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