I don't usually post something like this but I just have to this time. Please note, the image at the end of this will scare the holy crap out of you. It did me.

My wife, Joyce, and I went up to Estes Park this weekend to spend time with my parents, my sister and her husband. We saw mudd and his family up there on Saturday and had a generally good time. As usual, I was working at the games assisting the piping competition. I got finished at 3:00 PM Sunday afternoon and went to Mom and Dad's to load up, grab Joyce and head down here. We left between 4 and 4:30. The drive down here to the Springs takes between 2.5 and 3 hours depending on traffic. Last night we didn't get home till 10:00 PM or so.

About 6:30, when we were about 15 miles from home we went thru another heavy rain shower. I slowed down from 75 mph to about 55. Just as it was clearing up and I came back up to about 65, we found the bad patch of water and hydoplaned. I almost kept it on the road but unfortuantly, after turning almost all the way around, we went off backwards with the front end swinging around clockwise. We were still fairly fine until the right rear wheel struck a rock and at that time we were traveling sideways with the right side (passenger side) of the van leading. We ended up rolling completely over with the wheels down.

As soon as the van stopped there was a couple standing at our windows checking to see if we were ok, calling for help and picking up what was thrown from our car. Moments later an off duty State Police officer was there checking on us and just a few minutes later the ambulance was there. They put the love of my life on a back board with her neck completely braced and took her to the ambulance. After checking me over they opened the door and assisted me out and up to the ambulance. After our short stay at the emergency room, we are home. Joyce has a small crack in her right collar bone which has her in pleanty of pain but only a few brusies elsewhere. I am feeling some aches/pain at the surface of my chest on the left side and in a corosponding place in the back. My guess would be dislocated ribs or they popped back in. I have several small cuts but that's about it.

Now for what will scare the crap out of you:



OBVIOUSLY that Man above, no matter what you call him, didn't thing it was time for us to come stay with him.

Lesson learned (for all of us I hope): 1. When it rains SLOW WAY THE AICH E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS DOWN! 2. Make sure and keep a close watch on your tires. When I had ours rotated the last time they suggested that I start thinking about replacing the rear tires but I just didn't get it done.