Thanks in part to Daylight Savings Time I wrecked my car yesterday. I'd been up studying, knew I had to drive long-distance to see my girlfriend. I fell asleep, and 30 seconds later I got a phone message:
"Hi it's (GIRLFRIEND), it's three AM and I can't sleep"
I texted back "Good morning" and decided I'd go take her to Mass at 7:30 AM (it being Sunday morning) and then we'd go have a nice day to explore. A bit of hassle to get dressed in the dark and I went out and started the Corolla. Going up through the woods all I could see in the dark was whitetailed deer.
Went up there, and found someone had wrecked a 2003-ish Honda on I-20 so I stopped to render assistance. Deer again. He'd gotten scared and swung off the road into the ditch because Mama Deer and her two babies were standing in the middle of the highway. The car left the road at 65mph, spun out, and splashed down like the Artemis space capsule into the ditch by the road, damaging the bumper. I stopped by and suggested we call Highway Patrol to get him out--that worked okay, and the tow truck came along and was able to winch it up out of the mud. We fixed the bumper and set it back on the road.
So I made it there to her house with wet socks from wading around in the mud, running late--Girlfriend ran out of the house and piled into the car and we went to church then to the light rail station where we decided to go explore the city on the tram. That was nice, but I was already getting a bit sleepy so I fell asleep on her while we were on the way back. After all that I started for home, fell asleep on a rural highway, and the little Corolla drifted right and fell off the edge of the highway. I woke up when it hit the dirt, and had to dodge a highway sign as it was bearing down on that at 55mph. Can't exactly stop as the mud would keep the car from starting again, and I was moving fast enough my first thought was try to hit something soft. The sign looked like it would be visible damage so I cranked the steering-wheel to the right, avoiding the crash, then as the car headed for the ditch I stepped on the gas pedal and started a wide, slow left turn--too sharp and it would stall out, too straight and the car would sink in the mud. The car started sliding some as the wheels weren't getting traction but it did power out and started plowing through the grass on the way back up the bank, so I put the turn signal on & turned left back into the highway. Once the mud fell off the wheels it was all right. Not bad but definitely a hair-raising thirty seconds.
I did make it home but then missed my dentist's appointment the next day.
Daylight Savings Time is unnecessary complication & I do not look forward to winters where I have to wake up in the middle of the dark.
