# Diary Entry 445: Car accident 2 of 2 (8/6/2005)



## Elaminopy (Jun 29, 2011)

I'm listening to the FLCL/Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly soundtrack right now. This thing rules.

So anyway I had to take a trip up to the small town of Turner once again to pay my rent. I had around $345 in my account when my rent was due and my rent is $505. I didn't get paid until the 4th day of my 5-day grace period. When I did, I had to drive up there to pay it because it would be late if I mail it and then I'll have $80 added onto the next rent. That sucks. I was going to meet up with MummifiedAsp there since he lives a little bit past Turner. I have to take Interstate 5 to get to Turner and I was on my way, following the 65 MPH speed limit when suddenly all the cars up ahead in both lanes were stopped, so I had to stop. Great, traffic jam. There was black smoke up ahead in the distance. It was about 9 pm, so it was dark. The cars weren't moving. Not even after a while. People started turning off their cars and lights. A few people got out of their cars. A police car drove by all of us on the left in the ditch that separates the 2 sides of the road, 2 lanes on each side.

This one person drove over to the right emergency lane and stopped her car there, got out and went into the field of grass on the right and squatted. Then she came back and parked her car right behind mine. It was only a minute later when we saw a semi truck drive down that lane and pass us all. It was followed by a van, another semi truck, then it just became a regular lane for people to be driving on. There was about 1 semi truck for every 2 cars on the road. I got out and went to the girl in the car and she rolled her window down. I said she should have left her car there and she agreed. She said they must obviously think they have special privileges. I said, "Yeah, but they seem to be getting through, so it's worth a shot." We both pulled into that lane and only got maybe 50 feet when that lane became stationary just like the other 2 legal ones. Everyone turned their cars off after a few minutes.

I saw a group of guys up ahead who were standing around by the 2-foot guard wall on the right. I got out and said "So, is it like this all the way to Salem?" They said they heard on a trucker's CB that it's pretty close up ahead. One of the guys was smiling and saying stuff like, "Man, this sucks. It's like the gayest thing ever," and one of the other guys laughed. It had been maybe half an hour to 45 minutes.

Then we heard cars up ahead starting up and saw some movement and the guys were like, "Get in the car! They're moving!" We all hurried to our cars so we could go before a large space got in front of us and people got in front of us. We were only able to go like 30 more feet when it stopped again and the same thing happened. Only the emergency lane moved. The other 2 legal ones remained still. We turned off our cars again and I got out and went back to the same wall. I had only gotten my car up to the point where I had hung out with the guys. The girl I talked with before was right behind me and was messing with stuff in her trunk. The guy behind her was sitting on his hood and playing a guitar. The stars were nice at least. I sat on the wall, then heard something walking around in the tall grass to my right and I didn't know if it was a mouse, a raccoon, or a cougar (we get cougars around here). I went back my car for a little bit, then decided I was being a wuss and went back to the wall. It was about 8 inches thick and I lay on my back on it and looked at the stars.

A while passed with still no movement from the cars and I finally decided I would go see what the hold-up was. It was a long walk. The interstate was totally filled with cars and semi trucks all turned off. There was a little light here and there in the darkness which just gave outlines of the vehicles. I walked down the middle of the road and it was like walking through some ghost town or post-apocalyptic city, huge trucks on my left and right, sometimes half in one lane and half in the other because they were in the middle of changing. I also felt like the lone adventurer being the only one brave enough to make the journey.

About a MILE later I got to the source of the disturbance in the traffic. It was filled with flashing lights from the several police cars and other vehicles. A small group of people were standing a little distance back and seeing what was going on. Past the "crime scene" tape there was a Yellow semi truck. I don't mean it was yellow. It was white. It was owned by the trucking company "Yellow" and had the logo on it. It was one with 3 trailers on it and all 3 of them were disconnected and in different areas of the road. Against the closest segment was a small, lowered pickup truck. It was totaled. It was totaled like this picture I found online that is the closest I can find to how it looked:










Except it wasn't bent into a V with the inside of the V on the side like this one is. It was bent so the inside of the V was on top. That was the one that had been on fire but was out now. Unlike the rest of the people gathering around, I walked right up to the police line tape and tried to figure out all what had happened. A little past the pickup truck was a minivan that was also wrecked, though not nearly as bad. I couldn't see it very well, though.

Eventually, a policeman came up to me and we had a little chat:

*Him:* What party are you from? I've seen you hanging around.
*Me:* Oh, I'm just an observer.
*Him:* Okay, well this isn't really a place to be doing that. This is now a crime scene. So just... be on your way.
*Me:* That's kinda hard to do.
*Him:* Where is your vehicle?
*Me:* Back there (and I pointed down the road)
*Him:* Oh, you are on this side. I thought you might be someone coming from the other way and just stopped to see it. Well, just go back to your vehicle.
*Me:* ...
*Him:* How far back is your vehicle?
*Me:* It's... well...
*Him:* How far back is it would you say?
*Me:* About like a MILE.
*Him:* Oh, well just... hmm... well... maybe you could cross to the other side and head back where you came from if you don't want to wait. But we can't have you just hanging around here.
*Me:* About how long would you estimate this to take?
*Him:* Hours.
*Me:* I see. Okay, thanks

I started walking back and another guy who wasn't an officer or anything told me that it will be a while because there's a dead body in the pickup truck. I walked back and stopped a few times to tell some people who were talking about it what the officer told me and what I saw. Then I got into my car and saw that several of the cars around me were gone. They had probably crossed the ditch to the other side, too. I did the same and went back home. It was 11:30 at night when I got back in my car.

I got home waaaay too late to even think about trying to get up at 4 to go to work. I didn't even get to see any dead bodies, either. I just went and dropped my rent off the next day. The road was clear by then.


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