So here's the real story of the day:
This morning the house car (aka the Cobalt) had to go to the dealership in Richmond because there was a recall (this involves a confusing story about how the McCreary Cobalt's engine wouldn't shut off for hours) plus it needed an oil change. Richmond is a quick half-hour trip up I-75. I almost always drive on two-lane US-25 (which runs mostly parallel to I-75) between Mt. Vernon and Berea, but since I was heading on to Richmond I decided to drive the interstate the whole way.
It was 8:30 AM. I was almost to Berea, heading north on I-75, when I saw a semi in the right southbound lane. It appeared to be bouncing up and down which seemed weird. Then it started careening toward me! The cab turned to the left, cut across the left southbound lane and crashed through the concrete barrier between the northbound and southbound traffic. The whole thing tipped as it collided with the barrier. It happened maybe 20 feet in front of me. Debris flew into both northbound lanes. There was hardly anyone on the roads that early (thankfully!) so I pulled onto the shoulder to avoid debris and called 911. A semi that was behind me pulled over and the driver jumped out to check on the guy, so I continued on toward Richmond. I briefly debated staying, but we had a appointment at the dealership. And now that I look back, would I be able to handle what the inside of the cab looked like?
I could already tell that traffic was getting backed up. As I got to the Richmond exit I saw an ambulance going south. My time at the dealership was uneventful (Burford's waiting area is much much nicer than Bishop's in Mt. Vernon). When it came time to go home I knew that there would be a traffic jam, so I figured I'd get off I-75 at Berea and then take 25 home. The roads were fine until a mile or so before the exit. Suddenly it was a gridlock and I was surrounded by semi's. I-75 has an inordinate amount of semi's. The interstate goes from Cincinnati through Lexington and on to Knoxville, so I guess there's a lot of business between the cities. The semi behind me kept getting waaaay too close to me and would drive up on the shoulder and nose his way next to me; I have no idea why! It took about half an hour just to get to the exit.
Of course tons of cars and semi's were choosing to take the exit. Police were all over the place, having set up an official detour on 25. I knew I didn't want to take 25 with all the cars and semi's going on it; it would surely be as jammed as I-75 was. So I went further into Berea and onto 1617, a backroad into Rockcastle county. I patted myself on the back for being familiar with the backroads; they certainly are a help. Of course it was more out of the way, but I still think I made better time compared to 25 and it felt good to keep moving as opposed to inching my way down the "quicker" route. I had to rejoin 25 and it was ok until I got close to the I-75 overpass. People were apparently reentering the interstate. I took another backroad on a whim around Lake Linville. Another out of the way road, but at least I kept moving! By the time I got back to the office it was 11:30. I had gotten stuck in traffic around 10. The normally 20 minute drive had turned into an hour and a half!
I didn't really mind too much because I had absolutely nothing to do today (and nothing else exciting happened all day). I'm glad that no other vehicles were involved in the wreck and hopefully the semi driver is doing ok. You never think that you'll see something like that. Of course I read about wrecks in Rockcastle all the time in the weekly paper, but I never thought that I'd actually be witness to one. I can't believe how lucky I was that the semi didn't come completely into my lane. Would I have been able to avoid it? Probably, because I had enough room to slow down. But what if I had been driving just a little faster, or left a little earlier, and were hit by the huge chunks of debri? Scary thoughts.
This short article includes a picture to give you some idea of what it was like:
http://www.lex18.com/news/all-lanes-of-i-75-reopened-in-rockcastle-county-after-morning-semi-crash/
Why the title "Tally-Ho"? When we traveled to South Bend for the Avett Brother's concert, Christel noticed that just about every truck driver had a mustache. We made it into a game where we would shout "Tally-Ho!" when we saw a driver with a mustache. I wanted to title this blog "I Hate Semi's" but I shouldn't say that..
UPDATE:
The driver's condition has upgraded from "critical" to "serious." And this short article better explains the wreck: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/03/03/1656188/tractor-trailer-crash-closes-i.html#
