Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.
I’m currently in my 22nd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here
The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort in La Connor, Washington. I’ll depart here July 24th.
Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.
In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!
So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.
This entry was posted May 30, 2012…
In the previous two Blog entries I’ve reported about a terrible accident Mary and I lived through three days ago. In case you missed those entries, here are the links…
The story continues…
We had reached the turnaround point in Canyon de Chelly National Monument where we stopped for a nice lunch break. Shortly after starting up again…is when the accident happened.
Mary and I were sitting in the left front passenger seat…directly behind the driver. The road was a single lane dirt road with two shallow ruts from previous vehicles. All of a sudden, I noticed the left front wheel had crossed over the slight left berm of the road track…pointing the vehicle towards the edge of the ravine. I saw the driver frantically trying to turn the steering wheel to the right…with no effect. I looked back at the edge of the ravine and remember shouting out loud…”We’re going to go over!” Within a couple of seconds…we were going over the edge of the ravine.
Mary tells me that my shouted warning allowed her to slide off her seat and dive for the bed of the truck…saving her life. Later a few of the others told me that they had heard my shouted warning.
Now knowing that we were indeed going to go over the edge, I crouched down as fast as I could while hanging on to the metal seat handle. And then we were airborne! And rolling over! I remember thinking to myself…”this can’t be happening!” BUT IT WAS!!!
I would say, from the time I shouted my warning and the time we came crashing to the ground occurred in about five seconds.
We hit the earth with a resounding BANG as we continued to slide down the hill.
Finally, we came to a stop. Dust and dirt were everywhere…in my mouth and in my eyes.
Immediately, I started hearing others crying out in terror and obvious pain.
I immediately started hollering out for Mary. She was only a couple of feet from me. Her left arm was caught under the seat and another person was on top of her.
Dust was everywhere and people were shouting and crying. I could not help but wonder if the vehicle would catch on fire and we would all be caught in there and we would all be burned to death.
Fortunately…there was no fire.
How do we get out of here??? All the while people are screaming and crying out for their loved ones.
After some effort Mary was able to free her arm.
Someone had finally managed to pull the person out from under the truck and off of Mary.
Shortly thereafter Mary was able to escape from under the truck via the same route.
A short distance away from me I could see a woman with anther person atop of her. The women on the bottom was screaming…”I cant breathe…I can’t breathe!” I said to her…:I can see your mouth, it is not in the dirt…you can breathe…BREATHE!”
All the while the person atop of her who was also pinned in place, in an attempt to escape, was kicking me in the face. I was wondering…how in the hell am I going to get out of here???
While considering the answer to that question, I realized my camera was in the right hand pocket of my sweat pants. I reached for the camera and managed to take this photo that shows the floor is now the ceiling!!! In the below photo you will notice two black areas, one on the lower left and one on the upper right. That’s, because, of all the dirt and dust, the camera lens protective shutters failed to open completely. Hidden below the lower left black are a couple of people wedged into place, screaming and yelling for help. In the middle of the aisle, you can see the body of a man pinned between the collapsed seats…
Once I was out, I took this photo of the rescuers trying to help those still under the vehicle…
I now realize that because Mary and I were seated in the first seat behind the driver that the roof of the cab helped keep us from getting crushed and pinned to the bed of the truck like some of the others.
To say that this was a traumatic event is an understatement. I know I’ll never forget it. Memorial Day weekend will now have a new meaning for Mary and myself.
TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW…!!!
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.
Forecast for today is partly sunny and 65 degrees.
Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!
The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…
Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein
My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…
On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!
Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8
If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos
There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa
If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/
For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2017
Que Sera, Sera... Whatever Will Be, Will Be... 