If you read my previous posts, you know that we went on a trip up to WI to visit our family last week (no movers or anything…just a vacation!). We started driving home yesterday and hit quite a bit of snow and ice between Cedar Rapids, IA and Des Moines. We saw tons of cars in the ditch (at least 6 or 7 just in the mile before our accident) and I told Chad that I really wanted to get a hotel. But right after that, he lost control of the van. We were right next to a bridge and at first, it looked like we were going to go down into whatever was underneath the bridge, but then we fishtailed onto the bridge, hit the cement barrier on the bridge twice (once in the front, once in the back on the passenger side) and then slid into the ditch on the other side of the bridge.
We were all unhurt, but pretty shaken up (my back hurts, but I’m not sure if that’s from the accident or from being all tensed up). We called 911 and they sent two troopers out who took us to a hotel. Because of the weather, there’s a towing ban out, so we don’t even know when they’ll be able to pull the van out and then they’ll have to fix it, too. So we could be here for awhile. All we know is that the weather is still pretty bad right now.
When the police picked us up, they blocked a lane of traffic and were so worried about other cars hitting their cars that we barely got to take anything with us. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to grab the things we absolutely needed (Kelvin’s amoxicillin for his ear infection, my contact solution and glasses, and the diapers), but we couldn’t bring any clothes with us and they wouldn’t even let Chad go back and lock the van. Hopefully everything will be there when we get the van back!
We’ve still been able to have clean clothes by washing them in shifts (the person who isn’t naked runs the rest of the clothes down to the hotel washing machine and then we switch). Not ideal, but it works! We also grabbed Ava’s DVD’s and Chad’s laptop so that keeps her entertained part of the time. Kelvin’s bored to death, though. He pretty much uses me as his personal jungle gym all day.
Luckily, our insurance company is covering pretty much everything. We have a $500 deductible, but they also pay for all our expenses while we’re here (up to $500), so we definitely come out ahead! They’ll even pay for clothes if we can buy them, but the nearest store is 5 miles away and the roads are too bad to even take a cab. I’m not even sure if they have cabs in this town because it’s so small.
I feel really bad for Ava. Usually in order to sleep, she needs her big pillow, her small pillow (on top of her big pillow, upside down with the tags at the top), her big puppy, her little puppy, her Friend (a beanie baby dinosaur), her Nuk, and two “soft blankets” (the kind with satin on the back). And we have none of it. I handed her her Friend before we got out of the van, but I don’t know if she left it in the van or forgot it in the police car. It’s so sad that she doesn’t have any of her “security items” and is in a strange place on top of it.
Just wanted to let everyone know! I’ll update as I can (and I’m able to update Facebook with my phone pretty regularly).
Posted: February 9th, 2010 under Random Thoughts.
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A few weeks ago, Chad decided he was going to start cooking dinner one night a week. This may or may not have been prompted by me telling him that I hate cooking dinner when the kids are around (which is every night). LOL