I figgured on taking a couple months off, taking life a bit easier, just playing music and sailing the Chesapeake's upper reaches when the weather gets warm--not a prayer.

The music jobs have been coming in back to back, lots of doubles, and days off were few and far between. Not much time to work on the boat. Today, Wednesday, was the last music job on the schedule for the week and the next five days were supposed to be open. So far--so good!

Looked out the window last night, the moon was full and at midnight it was so bright outside that you could seen herds of deer grazing on my newly planted grass--not a good omen! By 3:00 a.m. my throat felt like someone had dumped battery acid on my vocal chords, and I was down to a painful whisper. Wonderful!

The morning started out OK with bright sunshine, and despite the fact that I sounded like a bullfrog in heat, things were going well--at least until I got on I-95 and headed south toward Baltimore and today's job. Traffic was horendous, which is normal at 11 in the morning, wall to wall 18 wheelers, and crazies trying their damnedest to weave between them as speeds approaching warp 12. Not my cup of tea. I cruised along at a conservative 65 MPH in the right lane until I was about a half mile north of I-695, which at this point the lane becomes an exit lane for 695. I turned on my signal, moved to the next lane to my left, and continued for another quarter mile when an a**hole in a Nisam Sentra decided he wanted to get in the same lane as me. Without signaling or looking, he rapidly swerved into my lane--right into the side of my van rear quarter, shoving me into a sideways skid for the next 200 feet before I lost control and went into a ditch. His car flipped on it's side and ended up in the same ditch about 50 yards north of my van.

Bottom line--the van is totaled, the equipment survived, with minimal damage, his car looked like it went through a shredder, I obviously didn't make it to the job, and the a**hole had the guts to say "Man, I don't know what happened!"

Fortunately, no other vehicles were involved, and a witness who was a couple hundred yards behind stopped and gave the state police a statement that clearly portrayed who was at fault.

The worst part about the deal wasn't loosing the music job and dissapointing 150 people at a spring dance. The worst part is that because my van is a 1989 the guy who hit me insurance company will only pay book value for the van, which is probably about $2,000. This, despite the fact the van was in excellent condition until some indiot on his cell phone slammed into it. Now I'll have to replace the van, which will cost me a bundle. Damned I hate full moons!

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Gary....Post pics...

Gary

Sorry to hear about your accident and the loss of your van, but so happy that no one was hurt. Just remember, "this too shall pass."

Charles

That's terrible news Gary, but at least you and your gear survived. But I know it's still a drag that you won't get true value of the van you lost.

I keep wishing California would make it illegal to use a handheld cellphone while driving. Barely a day goes by that I don't have a cellphone user do something stupid on the freeway around me. The worst thing is that most of the time they aren't even aware of the problems they are causing until something like Gary's collision happens.

Gary...
Really sorry to hear this happened to you. When you consider all the "what ifs" you can be thankful for a bunch. All the same, it is a tough pill to swallow.
Eddie

WOW Gary
We sure are thankful that you are still with us. That could have been real nasty, or should I say nastier.
As for the other guy, we hope he gets what he deserves. There's no consolation in saying sorry for a mindless act because unless he suffers for his madness, he will probably do it again, next time with dire(direr)consequences.
BTW, in UK driving while using a mobile phone is penalised with a £60 ($100) fine. Trouble is you can see violators all the time and they get away with it (until something happens like you have experienced)

Once again, we thank heaven that you are still here with us.
Have you stopped shaking yet?
cheers
Eddie Johnson

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Eddie from Rotherham
Skype:eddiefromrotherham
www.yamahakeyboards.info

Gary
Sorry to hear about your accident. I would suggest emigrating to Victoria Australia where it is illegal to use a cellphone whilst driving - but that still doesn't save you from the young lady doing her lipstick whilst looking in the rear vision mirror. Not the nicest ways of meeting young ladies when they come through bringing the back end of your car with them!
With all the other responses we all are thankful your gear was OK - suggests our keyboards are closer to us than our vehicles.
Keith

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear about your accident Gary. It sounds like quite a scary ordeal! I'm happy to hear you were not injured and managed to save your equipment too.

It's extremely illegal to drive while talking on those damn things here too. Tons of studies have been done (psychology is my trade) which prove that your attention is extremely inhibited when using cell phones while driving.

Carrie

Gary,

We are all glad you are ok. That's what is important. It doesn't matter where you move, there are idiot drivers everywhere. Did you finish your Logitech PAS while you were off? Please finish your sabbatical and return to the forum all refreshed and full of new ideas.

Tom

Gary:

Sorry to hear about your accident, what a way to come back to the forum. Well, the good news is your not injured and your equipment survived. I understand completely about your van. Similar thing happened to my wife driving a Windstar mini van.