I'm Home!

"There's no place like home" especially when the wifi in the hotel kept going out at 7:30 PM. Jeepers! That was frustrating.

Curving down the mountain yesterday, one wouldn't even need a motor in their car. Easily the group of us were going 75 mph (the posted speed limit) and I wasn't even touching the gas pedal.

I have to roll my eyes at these people with large SUVs that drive on the bumper of the car in front of them. Not only is it very unlikely that they actually take that big SUV off road, there is almost always only one person in them. One thing for sure, they certainly couldn't stop safely, if they had to. They need that huge gas guzzler like I need a root canal. I like to slow down just enough to let them pass me.

Just south of Black Canyon City, I was at the back of the pack of cars hurling down the mountain. The car ahead of me changed lanes and cut off the car in the other lane. She lost control of her car when the front wheel went off the left side of the road while trying to avoid being hit by him.

I slowed a bit more as she pulled back onto the road, she went all over both lanes, still moving mostly forward, smoke coming in blankets toward me. I could smell the burnt rubber from her tires from her car spinning sideways as we continued down the mountain. The way her car rocked from side to side as it spun, I honestly thought she would roll over any minute.

As soon as she lost control I turned on my warning flashers and slowed more. As I watched her continue back and forth across the lanes trying to gain control of her car, I came to a stop on the shoulder. I thought she was going to roll over a couple of times, then she spun around, came toward me, then headed backwards toward the guard rail on the outside of my lane (the 'slow' lane).

She came to a stop partly in my lane, facing the wrong direction, with her back bumper inches from the guard rail - keeping her from the canyon below. We were close enough that I could see the panic on her young face.

Another pack of cars was approaching from behind (one way, two lane road). They weren't switching lanes to avoid hitting her until the last minute. Somehow, she managed to pull around through that traffic and get back on the road without getting hit, then pulled to the shoulder.

I pulled up closer, but not so close that if someone hit me, I couldn't keep from hitting her. After all the cars had passed, I got out to check on her and she got out thinking she had hit my car (we were that close, I just stopped fast enough to stay clear).

Poor thing was shaking so much she could hardly walk. I had her sit on the guard rail and chatted with her until her adrenalin rush passed. She kept covering her mouth with her hand and I could tell she was trying not to cry.

That guy that cut her off didn't stop. No one else stopped. She is a young mom and without her quick reaction, could have been badly hurt.

We had both seen that he kept changing lanes without signaling. She hoped to get ahead of him, I had fallen back to let him go. I figured Phoenix would still be there when I arrived. I didn't have to be the first one down the mountain. (That's the beauty of age, a bit of reason sets in.)

She is fine. I followed her until she got off at the next exit.

The point is, life is precious. As Susan put in her blog yesterday...see my post, there is only one of each of us. Not only do each of us have a story to tell, we have a reason for being here that is lost if we are gone too soon.

Let's look out for each other a little better than we usually do.

Mother Elizabeth said in Storm Surge: "Each person is a unique, irreplaceable representation of their Creator. We’re each one ray of sunshine, one drop of rain, one song on the wind. All of us come together to make a symphony that brings joy to our Father."

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