Arkansas
So, last month at Summerstar, (a pagan gathering), I had the pleasure of getting to see Tricky Pixie perform. They got henged. hehe. But that's another story. Alec I already had met a few times. In fact, originally met him some years ago. But I also had the pleasure of meeting SJ Tucker (aka Sooj) and Betsy Tinney at Summerstar....and together they (the three of them) are Tricky Pixie. Anyway, I actually didn't spend any time talking to Sooj until Saturday, the day after their Summerstar performance. And then I spent most of the time she was there that day, hanging with her, Ryan, and a couple other people. And then, this last weekend, I went up to see her, Betsy Tinny, Heather Dale, and Ben Deschamps up in Kenmore, WA. All of which is another story. But both are cool stories. Just not the one I want to tell now.
So what does this have to do with Arkansas. Well Sooj is from Arkansas....which, today, led me to think about my Arkansas story. You see, I have actually been there 3 times...Well, okay. So 2 of those times, I was passing through on the way to somewhere else (transiting from one unit to another while in the USCG). Incidentally, did you know there's a Pickle's Gap and a Toad Suck, Arkansas. True story. Dad and I stopped at a gas station in one where we saw a sign about the other when he helped me drive back to WA from my first unit in VA.
Anyway, so the summer before my Senior year of high school, I went to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law Enforcement. While there, I met a gal (Shanda) from Hardy, Arkansas and we hit it off and quickly became best friends. So all during my Senior year, we communicated long distance. And then, as part of my grad present, Mom bought a plane ticket so I could go see Shanda. So, I graduated from high school on the 7th of June, 1993, went down and had my physical at MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station) on the 8th, and flew out to visit Shanda on the 9th. Had a great time and wound up asking my mom if I could stay a little longer. So, she changed my ticket.
So, the day I was originally set to fly back to Washington, Shanda, I, her fiance, and his little brother and I were going to go rafting. Now, most of the actual roads around here in Washington are pavement. Mostly it's just driveways and logging roads that aren't anymore, with occasional exceptions. So, I hadn't had a whole lot of experience driving on gravel roads.... In the area around Hardy, Arkansas, on the other hand, most of the roads are gravel....or were at that time. I got a little more gravel road driving experience that day than was really healthy.
You see, the plan was that Shanda, her fiance, and his little brother were going to drop the raft and the little brother up at where we were to get in. They were all in his pick-up. I was supposed to drive down to where we were to get out at and park Shanda's Camaro at the other end. Once they dropped the raft and the boy off, they were supposed to come down and get me.
So, they headed off in their direction and I headed off in the other.....on a gravel road, which I wasn't used to driving on, rocking? out to my Joey Lawrence cassette tape (*hanging head in shame now* lol). I came around this corner on this gravel road just a little bit too fast.....and slid into the ditch. Which wouldn't have been horrible. Tires are relatively cheap to replace....relative to a Camaro anyway....
First thought, "Oh shit!! She's gonna kill me when she finds me in the ditch!!" So I yanked the wheel....in a 4-cylinder Camaro already in the ditch....and it came out of the ditch all right. It came out of the ditch and flipped over on it's hood and slid down the gravel road a few feet. It's an interesting feeling, hanging upside down by a seatbelt in a Camaro on a gravel road. I freaked out a little bit for about a second or two.
I calmed myself down, turned off the engine, which I could hear revving, undid the seatbelt, and tried to get out the driver's side. Notice I said,"tried". Yeah....ended up crawling out the passenger's side window because the window opening on the driver's side was crushed to too small of an opening.
When I crawled out, there was a couple about in their 50s or 60s or so in a white car or van and they'd called for the police and ambulance. While we waited for the ambulance and police, the couple had me sit in their vehicle. So, when Shanda and her fiance came around the corner in his pick-up, they didn't seem me. In fact, at first, they didn't recognize her car when they saw it. When they realized it was Shanda's Camaro they were seeing and didn't see me, they were worried, but then I got out of the vehicle of the couple who stopped.
The ambulance and the police man or sheriff got there (I don't remember which). I didn't want to ride in the ambulance because I was concerned about the cost. So, I signed a waiver and Shanda and her boyfriend and I got into his truck to head for the hospital her mom worked at. We told the law enforcement officer where we were going before we left. Shanda held something pressed to the scrape on my head or elbow and I held one to the scrape on the other. We picked up her fiance's little brother and the raft, and went to the aforementioned hospital. Along the way, I made some smart-ass remark about the day or the accident or some such and I remember Shanda saying, "Well she must be alright. She hasn't lost her sense of humor." LOL!!
Anyway, long story made shorter, they took x-rays and such and bandaged me up. I just had some scrapes and bruises on my elbow and knee and a possible concussion. The law enforcement officer came to the hospital and said," I know this adds insult to injury, but I have to write you a ticket for 'Failure to Maintain Control'." (Shanda's dad drover me to the courthouse the next day so I could pay the ticket, since I was going to be back in Washington by the court date.) The Camaro was totalled. (By the pictures taken once they got it to the wrecking yard, I was lucky to be alive.) Though, they may have got some money back on the engine. Her dad said I probably saved the engine by turning it off.
I paid Shanda back for wrecking her car over the course of the next several months. Our friendship survived the accident itself, but not the ensuing year for reasons I don't care to go into at the moment.
I was very, very lucky. Saved by the grace of the Goddess and a seatbelt. But, you know? Everything happens for a reason. And I can look back on it now, with the time and distance of 19 years, and tell the story with humor. It was a lesson learned. And I don't consider my two weeks in Arkansas a bad experience overall. Just a memorable one.
So what does this have to do with Arkansas. Well Sooj is from Arkansas....which, today, led me to think about my Arkansas story. You see, I have actually been there 3 times...Well, okay. So 2 of those times, I was passing through on the way to somewhere else (transiting from one unit to another while in the USCG). Incidentally, did you know there's a Pickle's Gap and a Toad Suck, Arkansas. True story. Dad and I stopped at a gas station in one where we saw a sign about the other when he helped me drive back to WA from my first unit in VA.
Anyway, so the summer before my Senior year of high school, I went to the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law Enforcement. While there, I met a gal (Shanda) from Hardy, Arkansas and we hit it off and quickly became best friends. So all during my Senior year, we communicated long distance. And then, as part of my grad present, Mom bought a plane ticket so I could go see Shanda. So, I graduated from high school on the 7th of June, 1993, went down and had my physical at MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station) on the 8th, and flew out to visit Shanda on the 9th. Had a great time and wound up asking my mom if I could stay a little longer. So, she changed my ticket.
So, the day I was originally set to fly back to Washington, Shanda, I, her fiance, and his little brother and I were going to go rafting. Now, most of the actual roads around here in Washington are pavement. Mostly it's just driveways and logging roads that aren't anymore, with occasional exceptions. So, I hadn't had a whole lot of experience driving on gravel roads.... In the area around Hardy, Arkansas, on the other hand, most of the roads are gravel....or were at that time. I got a little more gravel road driving experience that day than was really healthy.
You see, the plan was that Shanda, her fiance, and his little brother were going to drop the raft and the little brother up at where we were to get in. They were all in his pick-up. I was supposed to drive down to where we were to get out at and park Shanda's Camaro at the other end. Once they dropped the raft and the boy off, they were supposed to come down and get me.
So, they headed off in their direction and I headed off in the other.....on a gravel road, which I wasn't used to driving on, rocking? out to my Joey Lawrence cassette tape (*hanging head in shame now* lol). I came around this corner on this gravel road just a little bit too fast.....and slid into the ditch. Which wouldn't have been horrible. Tires are relatively cheap to replace....relative to a Camaro anyway....
First thought, "Oh shit!! She's gonna kill me when she finds me in the ditch!!" So I yanked the wheel....in a 4-cylinder Camaro already in the ditch....and it came out of the ditch all right. It came out of the ditch and flipped over on it's hood and slid down the gravel road a few feet. It's an interesting feeling, hanging upside down by a seatbelt in a Camaro on a gravel road. I freaked out a little bit for about a second or two.
I calmed myself down, turned off the engine, which I could hear revving, undid the seatbelt, and tried to get out the driver's side. Notice I said,"tried". Yeah....ended up crawling out the passenger's side window because the window opening on the driver's side was crushed to too small of an opening.
When I crawled out, there was a couple about in their 50s or 60s or so in a white car or van and they'd called for the police and ambulance. While we waited for the ambulance and police, the couple had me sit in their vehicle. So, when Shanda and her fiance came around the corner in his pick-up, they didn't seem me. In fact, at first, they didn't recognize her car when they saw it. When they realized it was Shanda's Camaro they were seeing and didn't see me, they were worried, but then I got out of the vehicle of the couple who stopped.
The ambulance and the police man or sheriff got there (I don't remember which). I didn't want to ride in the ambulance because I was concerned about the cost. So, I signed a waiver and Shanda and her boyfriend and I got into his truck to head for the hospital her mom worked at. We told the law enforcement officer where we were going before we left. Shanda held something pressed to the scrape on my head or elbow and I held one to the scrape on the other. We picked up her fiance's little brother and the raft, and went to the aforementioned hospital. Along the way, I made some smart-ass remark about the day or the accident or some such and I remember Shanda saying, "Well she must be alright. She hasn't lost her sense of humor." LOL!!
Anyway, long story made shorter, they took x-rays and such and bandaged me up. I just had some scrapes and bruises on my elbow and knee and a possible concussion. The law enforcement officer came to the hospital and said," I know this adds insult to injury, but I have to write you a ticket for 'Failure to Maintain Control'." (Shanda's dad drover me to the courthouse the next day so I could pay the ticket, since I was going to be back in Washington by the court date.) The Camaro was totalled. (By the pictures taken once they got it to the wrecking yard, I was lucky to be alive.) Though, they may have got some money back on the engine. Her dad said I probably saved the engine by turning it off.
I paid Shanda back for wrecking her car over the course of the next several months. Our friendship survived the accident itself, but not the ensuing year for reasons I don't care to go into at the moment.
I was very, very lucky. Saved by the grace of the Goddess and a seatbelt. But, you know? Everything happens for a reason. And I can look back on it now, with the time and distance of 19 years, and tell the story with humor. It was a lesson learned. And I don't consider my two weeks in Arkansas a bad experience overall. Just a memorable one.