My Friday the 13th

Ell and I usually spend Friday the 13th's with our friends watching cheesy B-rated horror movies. You know, the ones with ketchup for blood and where the actors are clearly reading off cue cards. We had a special treat in February and March with two in a row, but unfortunately we weren't able to coordinate the usual festivities. But I think karma was pissed we ignored the laws of nature not once, but twice, because she bit me hard.

As I traveled home on March 13th, I phoned Ell to ask about something I was supposed to get in the mail. She told me she hadn't checked the PO box, so I needed to do so before I went home. After I hung up, my brain hit the erase button and I headed down the side road towards home instead of heading into town to get the mail. As I drove down the hill towards a one lane bridge, out of the corner of my eye I noticed something falling. It was a large limb off a tree by the side of the road.

With cat quick reflexes I was swerving to try and miss the huge part of the tree falling across the road. In a split second I decided to take the brunt of the impact versus potentially rolling down the hill into a lower farm field. And hit it, it did. The tree was falling perpendicular to the road and I hit it with the front passenger side corner. I hit it hard enough to move the tree so it was only covering one lane. I pulled over to survey the damage and to catch my breath. A tree falling onto your vehicle is not something you can ever be prepared for.

Thankfully the damage wasn't too much (even though it'll cost almost $2600 to fix) and I always carry good insurance. I wasn't hurt at all and the truck was still able to be driven. So even though I'm in a crappy little rental this week, things could have been much worse. And I made a promise to Ell that the next time a Friday the 13th comes up, we are renting some really bad horror movies. No questions asked.