Because I needed more excitement in my life....
Sunday evening I was sitting on my couch, trying to decide what to do that night and Monday because I have the day off.
My options: 1. Go to Elevation (the college service) and come back and sleep
2. Go to Mississippi...why? you ask? Why not?
So I called up my grandma and asked if they were doing anything tomorrow and if I could come over...I was on the road 30 minutes later. I decided to not tell Danielle (my cousin) that I was coming and just show up at her apartment and surprise her. (I like surprises)
Now every time I decide to leave town either to go to my parent's house or my grandparent's house, it seems to rain. (No joke, the last 4 times I've road tripped, God has decided to open the heavens and unleash a torrential down pour of rain on the route that I happen to be traveling.)
It was raining pretty hard the whole drive. But I was determined to not let the weather slow me down and keep me from getting to Danielle's apartment in a timely fashion. She was going to be going to bed soon and I didn't want to wake her up from too deep a sleep.
I was driving pretty fast; as fast as I could go and still be able to see with all the rain. Then it started to rain harder. And of course all the other cars on the road slowed down dramatically which just frustrated me more. I started pleading with God, "please make the rain stop!" I even tried a, "In the name of Jesus, I command the rain to stop!"
...Nothing happened....
Just more rain...
I started to hear the words, "You need to slow down."
"No, just make the rain stop!"
"You need to slow down."
"No God, You just need to make the rain stop like I asked!"
"You need to slow down."
Rather than try to win a battle of stubbornness with God I decided to let Him win.
"Fine...."
I slowed down to 55 or 60. (I hate driving that slow on the interstate) And I kept driving that speed for a while. (I had a great attitude about it too)
Then around 11:15pm, I'm honestly not completely sure what happened because it all happened so fast. But I do remember a burst of water hitting my windshield and then spinning.
In what was probably only a couple of seconds, my thought process went something like this...
"Oh crap"(I give myself points for not cussing)
"This is going to mess up my car"
"I'm not going to make it to Danielle's on time"
"Dude, I could die!"
"Ok Jesus, I'm ready! Take me now!"
The car eventually stopped. I was in the middle of the grassy wet median.
After the disappointment of not being in heaven passed, I tried to drive back to the road. Aaaand I was stuck. I got out of my car and walked around to take a look. (It had been a good idea to wear skinnies and trail runners because it was very muddy) The median was lower in the middle and it was just steep enough and just wet and muddy enough to prevent the necessary amount of friction needed to drive out...
Cali's (my car...yes I named my car) front bumper popped off a little on the drivers side but that's been messed up for a while. Other than that she was completely fine. Well, other than being stuck in the mud that is...
After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do, who to call, etc. A man in a truck pulled over and asked if I needed help.
Yay!
He tried to pull Cali out but snapped both of the straps he had. We needed something stronger. So he called roadside assistance to send a tow truck. (Did I mention that it's still pouring down rain?)
The tow truck finally came and pulled me out and then followed me to their shop to check Cali out and make sure she was ok to drive the rest of the way.
The guy zip tied some stuff that came loose on the underside of the bumper and she was good to go.
Then it was time to pay....
Apparently my bank thought it odd that I bought gas in Memphis and decided to freeze my account to make sure it was really me. Yes, of all times to make sure there is not fraud happening on my card, this would be the night!
So I try and give him my parent's credit card. Of course Discover chose the same night to do the same thing to my parent's card, because of some unusual charges they made in the last few days.
So there I am, in the middle of nowhere Mississippi, $2 cash, two frozen credit cards, a check book that does me no good because they don't take out of state checks, and a $225 bill to be paid for getting me out of the ditch...
So I did the mature, grown up thing to do...
Called my Mommy.
Through a long drawn out process that is really stupid and frustrating so I'll spare you the details, my parents were able to convince Discover that there wasn't fraud happening on their credit card and that they really did want to charge $225 to their card in the middle of nowhere Mississippi and I was finally back on the road by 1:30am
By this time, my whole Mississippi family along with everyone they know in the area are aware of what happened because they all tried to find someone to come pull me out, including Danielle...
3:00am I pulled into her apartment and there she was standing at the door waiting for me....Surprise?!
Sunday evening I was sitting on my couch, trying to decide what to do that night and Monday because I have the day off.
My options: 1. Go to Elevation (the college service) and come back and sleep
2. Go to Mississippi...why? you ask? Why not?
So I called up my grandma and asked if they were doing anything tomorrow and if I could come over...I was on the road 30 minutes later. I decided to not tell Danielle (my cousin) that I was coming and just show up at her apartment and surprise her. (I like surprises)
Now every time I decide to leave town either to go to my parent's house or my grandparent's house, it seems to rain. (No joke, the last 4 times I've road tripped, God has decided to open the heavens and unleash a torrential down pour of rain on the route that I happen to be traveling.)
It was raining pretty hard the whole drive. But I was determined to not let the weather slow me down and keep me from getting to Danielle's apartment in a timely fashion. She was going to be going to bed soon and I didn't want to wake her up from too deep a sleep.
I was driving pretty fast; as fast as I could go and still be able to see with all the rain. Then it started to rain harder. And of course all the other cars on the road slowed down dramatically which just frustrated me more. I started pleading with God, "please make the rain stop!" I even tried a, "In the name of Jesus, I command the rain to stop!"
...Nothing happened....
Just more rain...
I started to hear the words, "You need to slow down."
"No, just make the rain stop!"
"You need to slow down."
"No God, You just need to make the rain stop like I asked!"
"You need to slow down."
Rather than try to win a battle of stubbornness with God I decided to let Him win.
"Fine...."
I slowed down to 55 or 60. (I hate driving that slow on the interstate) And I kept driving that speed for a while. (I had a great attitude about it too)
Then around 11:15pm, I'm honestly not completely sure what happened because it all happened so fast. But I do remember a burst of water hitting my windshield and then spinning.
In what was probably only a couple of seconds, my thought process went something like this...
"Oh crap"(I give myself points for not cussing)
"This is going to mess up my car"
"I'm not going to make it to Danielle's on time"
"Dude, I could die!"
"Ok Jesus, I'm ready! Take me now!"
The car eventually stopped. I was in the middle of the grassy wet median.
After the disappointment of not being in heaven passed, I tried to drive back to the road. Aaaand I was stuck. I got out of my car and walked around to take a look. (It had been a good idea to wear skinnies and trail runners because it was very muddy) The median was lower in the middle and it was just steep enough and just wet and muddy enough to prevent the necessary amount of friction needed to drive out...
Cali's (my car...yes I named my car) front bumper popped off a little on the drivers side but that's been messed up for a while. Other than that she was completely fine. Well, other than being stuck in the mud that is...
After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do, who to call, etc. A man in a truck pulled over and asked if I needed help.
Yay!
He tried to pull Cali out but snapped both of the straps he had. We needed something stronger. So he called roadside assistance to send a tow truck. (Did I mention that it's still pouring down rain?)
The tow truck finally came and pulled me out and then followed me to their shop to check Cali out and make sure she was ok to drive the rest of the way.
The guy zip tied some stuff that came loose on the underside of the bumper and she was good to go.
Then it was time to pay....
Apparently my bank thought it odd that I bought gas in Memphis and decided to freeze my account to make sure it was really me. Yes, of all times to make sure there is not fraud happening on my card, this would be the night!
So I try and give him my parent's credit card. Of course Discover chose the same night to do the same thing to my parent's card, because of some unusual charges they made in the last few days.
So there I am, in the middle of nowhere Mississippi, $2 cash, two frozen credit cards, a check book that does me no good because they don't take out of state checks, and a $225 bill to be paid for getting me out of the ditch...
So I did the mature, grown up thing to do...
Called my Mommy.
Through a long drawn out process that is really stupid and frustrating so I'll spare you the details, my parents were able to convince Discover that there wasn't fraud happening on their credit card and that they really did want to charge $225 to their card in the middle of nowhere Mississippi and I was finally back on the road by 1:30am
By this time, my whole Mississippi family along with everyone they know in the area are aware of what happened because they all tried to find someone to come pull me out, including Danielle...
3:00am I pulled into her apartment and there she was standing at the door waiting for me....Surprise?!
3 comments:
incredible. thanks for not dying. I wouldve been very upset with you.
wow. i'm sad for your poor little car but i am grateful that you are alive. you are hearby banned from driving in the rain unless you drive slow.
i love you and i am glad that things didn't end differently. i am also glad that you didn't get to heaven just yet.
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