Never a Wrong Turn (Ever): A dramatic end to an incredible journey.

On the morning of March 16th we left camp early headed to Santa Fe to view museums and art galleries. At 10:00, Louie was hanging out with Mike and looking around. Then he went to sleep on the backseat. I am so glad he was in back!

At 10:15 we were crossing an overpass over Interstate 40 at Cline's Corner (former site of Route 66) and first a white SUV turned in front of us to enter the freeway so close to us that Mike laid on the horn. We were almost ready to say "whew" when we noticed the black SUV behind the white one was going to cross in front of us very close behind the black one. Mike said, "I'm not going to be able to miss her" and we crashed into her right rear quarter panel. Without steering, we would have gone into oncoming traffic, but Mike steered us straight down the hill on the other side of the road, through the guardrail and avoided rolling us down the hill. Great driving Mike!

We were tossed around and have some soft tissue injury and bruises. I had black lips for a few days from the airbag. The woman we hit has a sprained wrist. Considering that we were going between 50 and 60 miles an hour, we are all incredibly lucky to walk away. We were all taken by ambulance to Albuquerque about 50 miles away to be checked out. One can see the truck is obviously totaled. The trailer frame, despite all my research on strong frames, buckled and had to be trailered rather than towed to the wrecking yard. Louie was taken to an animal shelter to be cared for. He was not hurt at all. The local sheriff witnessed the accident. We couldn't have a more credible witness and he determined that the accident was 100% the other driver's fault.

We spent three nights in an Albuquerque hotel. We went to the wrecking yard to collect our belongings, but were given only two hours by the yard supervisor so were not able to get everything. We shipped home what we could get, and flew home.

However, our house is still leased out. We have been staying with wonderful friends, and beginning in April are renting a beach cabin on Whidbey Island until our tenants can find another place to live. We are still in shock over the unexpected end to the journey. We are trying hard to adjust and to remember how very lucky we are to be alive and healthy!