The Original Dashboard Diary [Day 2]

May 2, 2011

When Life Gives You an Elk
Monday, May 2, 2011

Well...we have hit a rather large, hairy speed bump . . . literally.
We hit an elk . . . or an elk hit us.
5:45 this morning.
10 miles away from the Grand Canyon.
75 mph.
Every airbag deployed.
Shattered windshield.
The car filled with smoke and the stench of elk guts. 

Josh has some airbag rash from his steering wheel airbag.

What we believe to be elk guts/poop on the side of the car


I’m not sure why Bart thought it was necessary to clean the windshield . . .

Some poop/guts even made it onto our bikes . . . 

And some elk hair stuck in the door as evidence . . . 

The boys had to change a tire before we could get on the road to the nearest Land Rover dealership.
. . . 2 hours away in Phoenix

 Not sure how the car made it to Phoenix in one piece, but it did.
From what we are told, we are lucky to be alive.
Many people stopped us and told stories of how they knew people who had died from hitting an elk head on, causing it to flip forcing their hooves through the windshield.
Dad told us that as much as he hates that Josh’s car got damaged, of our 3 cars, his was the best one for this to happen to because it’s built for this.
If we would have swerved and not hit the elk, we most likely would have flipped, and Josh’s insurance would most likely count it as reckless driving instead of animal manslaughter or just an unavoidable accident.
As terrible as today has been, we feel very lucky and blessed for everything to have played out the way it did.
God took very good care of us.


After 5 hours of dealing with Josh’s insurance company and the lovely rental car people . . . we end up with this beauty . . . for the bargain of $1,183.60 for 20 days . . . roughly $395 a piece. What a steal, right? thanks to Bart the Dart, we got a deal :)

 Now we are making up for missing breakfast by grabbin a bite and a few much needed drinks at Four Peaks Brewing Company. It's a microbrewery in Tempe that happened to be just what we needed after this long day. Amazing food, wonderful homemade drinks, and a great great great staff . . . the bartender Will even bought us our first round of drinks and gave us tons of great travel advice after we chatted for a while about our day.
After we ate, it surprised us to find out it was only 2 pm here . . . it feels like 9pm.
We are having to completely re-route our plans for the next three weeks . . . check back later to see what we’re scheming . . . we’re thinkin Vegas? You can’t beat a $30 a night hotel room on the strip.
I remind Josh weekly of the fact that we didn’t get to see The Beatles Cirque du Soleil show last time we were there, so now might be the perfect opportunity for him to redeem himself. Too bad Elton John’s shows don’t start until later this year.
We may have to scratch Jackson Hole and Havasupai from our plans in order to be back in Phoenix to get Josh’s car from the shop, but thats alright . . . just means more time in California.
Josh swears there’s some force trying to keep him from ever getting to Havasupai, after enduring this situation and his last failed attempt to go there last summer with Michael and Taylor.
We’re more than willing to take any travel ideas or advice!

Afterthoughts:
 I'm shocked I left this part out of the original post, but literally hours before we hit the elk, I was sleeping in the front passenger seat, without a seatbelt on.
We had just changed drivers and I swapped seats with Bart and moved to the back so I could stretch out on the backseat.
The elk hit the front passenger side of the car.
Had I been in that seat, without my seatbelt on, we may had a free ride to Phoenix via ambulance or helicopter . . . 
SO blessed.

10 comments:

hannah love said...

oh my goodness. your pictures are pretty crazy!

i've driven across the country before and only saw warning signs for hitting moose and stuff like that. this is so crazy. thank God no one got majorly hurt!

and i really like how you're reposting these!

Alyx said...

Oh my gosh! I'm so glad you guys were okay!
And I hope you always wear your seatbelt now! lol
Holy crap.... did his insurance not cover the rental??

Sierra @ Sierra's View said...

Wow. What a story.
Glad you lived. Holy crap.
Dumb elk.

Baylee said...

Wow. Glad you're ok! I'm loving these posts

Jayme @ Her Late Night Cravings said...

OMG!! This is crazy! So glad everyone is ok!

Jayme @ Her Late Night Cravings

Meredith Sledge said...

WOW. Insane!!!! That really is crazy. I'm so glad everyone is okay!!!

Anonymous said...

awe :( I'm sorry. That's will truly just ruin your day. Glad you're alright.

kate
myvanillawardrobe.blogspot.com

Lauren Cooper said...

So this post seriously made me cringe!! Happy you are alright! Hitting animals is always terrifying...not to mention messy!!

xo

Rebecca said...

Car accidents are so terrifying. You can't predict them and they can happy any time. So glad you all weren't hurt!

Anonymous said...

Oooh my .. I'm glad you're all ok. Brr, those are horrible accidents and there's not really anything to do - so quick situations.

Btw, earlier this week I was sitting in a bus, and between the first 1 hour part of the whole 2 hr drive I saw not 1 but 2 elks on the road, for the first time in my life actually. First one was on some kind of sunday walk I think, so smoothly and with no horry she walked over the road. Next one I didn't see until it was behind my window (I sat at the back of the bus), on her back feet and galloping away like furious horse.. That was kind of scary moment but all I could think of "where's my camera, open it quickly, don't lose it, oh nooo it's gone!"

Satu
Indie by heart

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