mx842
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2011
- Messages
- 824
- Location
- Richmond Va
- Tractor
- Kubota L3301, PowerKing 2414, John Deere 316, Gravely ZT HD 52
I seem to have a problem with trees wanting to fall on or near me while i'm in the woods. I had another thread awhile back about one falling on me while I was cutting wood. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/safety/331426-wrong-place-right-time.html
Anyway.....it seems now they are following me on the road too. Last week my youngest son called me and asked if I could come get him from work and I told him I would even though they had all sorts of weather warnings of flash flooding and possible tornadoes. At the time it was just cloudy but looked like the bottom was ready to fall out any time so I jumped into the Bronco and took off hoping I could get back before it did get nasty. It started to rain as I was heading out the driveway but it had been raining on and off for about a week or more so no big deal. About a mile from the house it had started to not just rain but the wind was starting to blow also.
At times it would rain so hard I could hardly see then let up and look like it was over. In the western sky I could see the clouds getting lighter and a slight bit of blue at times so I figured it was about over. Wrong........a short distance more it turned black again and started to pour down in buckets so hard even with the windshield wipers running full blast they couldn't keep the windshield clear and I started to look for a place to pull over and wait it out. the road is narrow so there are not too many places you can safely stop but I knew there was a place right up ahead so I pressed on. There was a car in front of me and several passed me going the other way so I knew I wasn't the only dumb azz out in this weather but I could tell everybody had the same idea as I did about finding a place to pull over. When I got to the place where I thought I could pull off there were 5 cars taking up space and what was worst was that they had the entrance to the fire department blocked so me and the guy in front of me couldn't even get into the parking lot. The guy in front of me kept going so I decided to follow him up the road to the next place we could pull off. I was riding pretty close to him but at times I would still lose sight of his tail lights because of the pouring rain. The road was pretty flat but it had about 6" of water on it and about that time a car came from the other direction and it thru a wall of water on me and for a short time I couldn't see anything then as the windshield wipers cleared the windshield some I could see tail lights up ahead then they disappeared into the fog and about that time all I could see was this big azz tree falling into the roadway. I didn't have time to do anything, I think I entertained the idea of trying to do a Joey Chitwood spin out but the tree landed right on the end of my truck hood and my forward momentum did the rest. the front bumper never hit the tree it just got the sheet medal and pushed everything into the firewall over top of the motor. I sat there for a second or two trying to get my wits about me and I realized the engine was still running so I cut the key off to let her rest.
All I could think at the time was........ I'M ALIVE!!! then I felt my arm burning and I looked to see where the air bag had scraped my arm as it went off and peeled a slab of skin off and left a small cut on my forearm. At first I thought the truck was on fire but it was smoke and heat from the airbag charge that was filling the truck cab. It was still raining really hard and I just sit in the truck until it stopped and the police and fire got there.
There were two cars and a truck at the same spot at about the same time and everybody got through but me. What makes it worst was we just dropped the comprehensive part of our insurance about 6 months ago. Not that I would have gotten a whole lot out of the old girl (96 Ford Bronco) but something would be a lot better than what I'm getting now. Now all I have is another pile of junk sitting in the yard to have to deal with.
Anyway.....it seems now they are following me on the road too. Last week my youngest son called me and asked if I could come get him from work and I told him I would even though they had all sorts of weather warnings of flash flooding and possible tornadoes. At the time it was just cloudy but looked like the bottom was ready to fall out any time so I jumped into the Bronco and took off hoping I could get back before it did get nasty. It started to rain as I was heading out the driveway but it had been raining on and off for about a week or more so no big deal. About a mile from the house it had started to not just rain but the wind was starting to blow also.
At times it would rain so hard I could hardly see then let up and look like it was over. In the western sky I could see the clouds getting lighter and a slight bit of blue at times so I figured it was about over. Wrong........a short distance more it turned black again and started to pour down in buckets so hard even with the windshield wipers running full blast they couldn't keep the windshield clear and I started to look for a place to pull over and wait it out. the road is narrow so there are not too many places you can safely stop but I knew there was a place right up ahead so I pressed on. There was a car in front of me and several passed me going the other way so I knew I wasn't the only dumb azz out in this weather but I could tell everybody had the same idea as I did about finding a place to pull over. When I got to the place where I thought I could pull off there were 5 cars taking up space and what was worst was that they had the entrance to the fire department blocked so me and the guy in front of me couldn't even get into the parking lot. The guy in front of me kept going so I decided to follow him up the road to the next place we could pull off. I was riding pretty close to him but at times I would still lose sight of his tail lights because of the pouring rain. The road was pretty flat but it had about 6" of water on it and about that time a car came from the other direction and it thru a wall of water on me and for a short time I couldn't see anything then as the windshield wipers cleared the windshield some I could see tail lights up ahead then they disappeared into the fog and about that time all I could see was this big azz tree falling into the roadway. I didn't have time to do anything, I think I entertained the idea of trying to do a Joey Chitwood spin out but the tree landed right on the end of my truck hood and my forward momentum did the rest. the front bumper never hit the tree it just got the sheet medal and pushed everything into the firewall over top of the motor. I sat there for a second or two trying to get my wits about me and I realized the engine was still running so I cut the key off to let her rest.
All I could think at the time was........ I'M ALIVE!!! then I felt my arm burning and I looked to see where the air bag had scraped my arm as it went off and peeled a slab of skin off and left a small cut on my forearm. At first I thought the truck was on fire but it was smoke and heat from the airbag charge that was filling the truck cab. It was still raining really hard and I just sit in the truck until it stopped and the police and fire got there.
There were two cars and a truck at the same spot at about the same time and everybody got through but me. What makes it worst was we just dropped the comprehensive part of our insurance about 6 months ago. Not that I would have gotten a whole lot out of the old girl (96 Ford Bronco) but something would be a lot better than what I'm getting now. Now all I have is another pile of junk sitting in the yard to have to deal with.
