On the Road with Rolo

Amazing how everything can change in a millisecond. Still completely enamored of the blue highways (see earlier post), last Friday I mapped a route from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, that would take me almost all the way to the Kentucky Derby, and the globalfreeloaders who’d agreed to host me for Louisville’s biggest weekend of the year, without getting on the interstate. I was desperate to avoid Chicago’s high gas prices (up to $3.25 for regular at some stations), and finally found a “reasonable” ($2.79) price just across the Indiana border. All gassed up, oil topped off, and Rolo bathed to remove all the bird droppings that accumulated while he was parked under the El tracks for four days, I was raring to go, and eager to move beyond the urban congestion of northwest Indiana. Sitting at a red light in the unremarkable town of Hammond, I pulled out the atlas again to determine whether I would indeed have to get on the interstate for a brief bit as the sign up ahead suggested. A few seconds later, there was a massive BOOM! and Rolo jerked forward. I had no idea what had happened, but after seeing in the rearview mirror that my back windshield was completely smashed, and that there was a medical transport van unnaturally close to me, it started to make sense.

I got out of the car and was shocked at the extent of the damage–the van’s bumper, being higher than Rolo’s, had slammed into Rolo, smashing and pushing in the tail-light area of the car at least a foot, buckling the bottom of the window frame, cracking the hatchback window, and sending the glass all over my cargo and the road. The driver jumped out and said “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you!” (I’m still puzzling that one out, but that’s what she said.) Having learned my lesson after the Arizona accident, I told her to stay put and called 911. An off-duty officer happened to be driving past, and he also called for a squad car. As the impact of what had happened, and how it would affect my trip, started to hit me, I sat down on the curb and cried. Where would I go? Where would I stay? What would I do with all my stuff? Was the car fixable?

I pulled myself together a bit when the cop arrived and began methodically going through procedures. When he asked me to move my car into the adjacent parking lot, it took some serious gas and lots of creaking and groaning and glass crunching to pull Rolo away from the van’s snug metallic embrace. The policeman and the other driver were both reasonable and accommodating, thankfully. While I was on the phone with my insurance company, after we’d gotten the facts down, I started crying again as I explained how I needed some help–I was on a long trip, I didn’t have anywhere to stay, I didn’t know how to get my car fixed, or how I’d get back on the road. The woman gave me the best advice I got all day–get a number to call the other company, they should be able to help you out.

To make a long story a little shorter, after a multitude of phone calls to and from various people, and three hours of sitting in that parking lot sorting things out, unable to leave the car, a claims rep. from the other driver’s employer’s insurance company came and picked me up (we moved all my possessions into her car), arranged to have Rolo towed to the body shop, took me to pick up a rental car, and set me up with a hotel room for the weekend, until we could have Rolo checked out on Monday. She even invited me over that evening for beer and pizza with her family and friends. I never expected to spend a long weekend in Munster, Indiana, but thankfully the locals are very nice, and made what could have been a totally miserable experience a bit better.

Today we’re tying up loose ends and I’m finally hitting the road again, this time in a rental car, and leaving Rolo behind for the salvage yard. Sadly, I won’t be finishing the rest of my planned trip, but will be driving straight from here to New Jersey, probably on the interstate. Sigh. I’m disappointed, but know this is the best resolution I can hope for right now. The joy of driving seems to have left me for the moment, the thrill of the adventure, and I’m ready to go home. I’m also suffering from mild whiplash and some muscle strain in my lower back, making sitting for long stretches uncomfortable, and I know that until I’m healed I shouldn’t spend more hours in the car than are totally necessary. I never expected that Rolo wouldn’t be carrying me into my parents’ driveway, and I’m sad to finish the drive without him, especially since I’m sure he could’ve had many more good years and grand adventures, either with me or someone else.

But I’m confident there are more good years and grand adventures ahead for me, even without Rolo to take me there.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 at 4:39 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.