John’s Ramblings

We were having a quiet evening at home. Terri and I were chillin’ in the living room, sipping a glass of wine and talking about our pending work-weeks. Shortly after 8 p.m., there was a pretty loud crash sound from just outside the house, near the street. When I got to the front door, our small front lawn was completely filled with truck, as you see here:

Blog-boy called 9-1-1. The conversation was something along the lines of:

Me: “A truck has rolled down the hill and landed in my yard.”
Operator: “Is there anyone in the truck?”
Me: “No, it was parked up the hill, and rolled down the hill by itself.”
Operator: “Was anyone else injured?”
Me: “No, but I’ve got this truck upside-down in my yard.”
Operator: “Well, just get his license and give it to your insurance company.”
Me: “No, you don’t understand, it’s hanging upside down in my yard.”
Operator: “I don’t see any reason to dispatch an officer.”
Me: “It’s upside-down, in my yard, and there is gasoline leaking.”
Operator: “Oh, fine then. I guess I’ll send an officer.”
Me: “Gee, thanks.”

Within the next ten minutes, we’d have two Sheriff cars and two fire engines surrounding our house.

Because we are on a hillside and the yard drops off rather precipitously just after the lawn, the first move of the fire department was to secure the truck by tying a rope to the truck, then around a nearby tree to prevent the truck from slipping further down the hill. I hadn’t really considered the possibility, but I’m glad somebody did.

The Sheriff in charge of the scene called for a big-ass tow truck to lift the truck out of our yard. While we were waiting, we worked our way around the neighbor’s house for this perspective on the scene. Just behind the green railing is the front door, where I took the first picture:

We were starting to gather quite a crowd of neighbors by this time. Terri was pretty upset, and the neighbors brought out a bottle of wine and a bowl of pistachios so as to provide a little levity and normalcy to the chaotic scene. Nothing like a little Walla Walla Red to calm the nerves.
	Soon enough, the big-ass tow truck arrived. This guy was quite skilled with this crane device, and over the course of about 2 hours was able to pull the truck out of our yard, and place it in the street right-side up.
Here’s the carnage being dragged up the street. They would take it to the top of the hill, and load it onto another flatbed truck for final removal.
	This morning, with a little more light on the subject. This is the hill that the truck rolled down. I’d estimate it at 8 or 9 % grade. The truck was parked on the right side of the roadway, in front of the 4th house up (barely visible here). It clipped the bush in the yard of the first house you see on the right here, then turned right toward our next door neighbor’s house.
The truck deflected off this small pickup, which is parked in front of the next-door neighbor’s house. Without this deflection, the truck would have entered the neighbor’s house, either through the garage or the front door.
	Instead, the truck headed for our house. Because of this pine tree, however, the truck was deflected from it’s path. Rather than head into the side of our house, the truck dropped over the wall, coming to rest on our front lawn.
I firmly believe that this tree saved our house. I’m feeling a little more vunerable now that it is gone.

We are feeling very lucky today, and we are grateful that no one was injured. We’ve met the new neighbors, by the way. They seem very nice, and were definitely sorry and shocked at the events that transpired. Other than the truck, the damages should be fairly easily repaired. We finally got to bed about 11:30 or so.

Trust me, this entry is far more exciting than my bike ride on Sunday. I’ll fill you in on the Headwaters Century later.

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