Bindel Farms

With the two year anniversary fast approaching, I figure that I will take a little time and tell the story about the accident that changed my perspective on life and taught me to live each day to its fullest because you never know when it is your last day alive.

It all started like every Friday does, I normally go to work and sit around in an office all day.But that week, I was hit with a nasty stomach bug and by Friday I decided to call the day short and leave work at 11 that morning, heading home to recoup.

I also decided to take a different route than I normally would figure traffic would not be as heavy that time of day.Yes, in the country, on some state routes, “country traffic” can be a bit heavy at time.

Well as the story goes, I was traveling at the speed limit of 55 mph when all of a sudden a full size work van turns in front of me into an alpaca ranch’s driveway.The only things I could do at the time were to slam on the brakes, try to steer around him and the shout out that four letter word! There is no time for my life to flash before me as this all happened with in seconds.I do remember thinking, why me?Can’t being sick with stomach cramps be enough.

I don’t remember much of the crash except the loud sound of crumpling metal and the very loud explosion from the air bag.Mind you this is fall time and I had the window closed at the time.After the crash, I remember realizing that I had just survived the accident unscathed and decided to exit the vehicle but unfortunately the only way out was to repeatedly kick at the door until it freed up and opened just enough for me to escape.

I remember that the women at the ranch were very nice and gave me water and a phone to use to call loved ones and tell them that I was involve in a severe crash and would need to be picked up.

Most of the safety personnel, which included the volunteer fire department, on scene could not believe that I walked away from this crash without a scratch on my body. Everyone told me that I was very lucky as I should have been dead or at the very least serious injured and headed to the hospital-not sitting and walking at the scene of the accident. Maybe someone was watching over me, maybe it was just sheer luck, we will never know for sure.

I do remember that the other driver was a 26 year old guy completely stoned out of his mind and I remember he said to me, “Sorry man, I didn’t even see your truck coming towards me.”

You would think the story would end there and everything would be paid for by the insurance companies but that is kind of hard when the other guy was driving a truck that was not insured and you don’t have full coverage on the 14 year old vehicle. Yes, he had personal insurance but the company truck did not as it was suppose to be in storage at the time of the crash.The guy who really owned the vehicle could have file a stolen vehicle report and sent the kid to jail for both stolen vehicle and of course he went for OVI, but the vehicle owner did not want to, so that made a real mess of tying loose end up and getting paid for my vehicle loss.That all finally did get taken care of and I was finally paid out of his pocket for the price I was asking for the truck.But the story does not stop there.

One week after the crash, I believe that it was a Thursday, I was headed home and was almost involved in a other accident, this time it was a van driver trying to pass a semi on a the state route just about a mile from the last accident. That was a very close call which left me shaken.By Friday, on my way back to work, there was almost another accident.This time another work van had stopped at the intersection and I had the right of way as I did not have to stop, but would you know that he pull right out in front of me and I almost slammed into him again at 55 mph. By Saturday, I was heading to the in-laws house on the same road of the accident and again, this time a car had stopped at the intersection and did the same thing, pulled out in front of me.If it wasn’t for me swerving into the left lane, I would have t-boned her at 55 mph.By then, I really started to think that maybe I should have died in the crash.Who wouldn’t think that? Everyone that I have told this story to always comes back to the movie Final Destination.

As strange as this all sounds, it is the full truth with no elaboration on the details.They say sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!