What we did Sunday night

[Carbon Can Kat]

I managed to roll our Expedition over on a wet sleet covered New Mexico road. It is quite an experience hanging upside down in your vehicle with your seatbelt holding you in. We were blessed to rollover in a drainage ditch in the soft NM dirt instead on the asphalt. Luckily we are just banged up, nothing broken just mostly muscular-skeletal injuries but did spend a considerable amount of time in the ER. We are very sore today and the car is totaled. Debbie managed to make it out the car before I did. She crawled out the lift gate. It took me awhile to get untangled from the pedals and around the steering wheel. A nice couple pulling a camper stopped to help and pulled open the passenger side door enough for me to slide out. Thankfully I found the GPS on my exit and we could tell 911 our exact location by the coordinates so the police and EMT's knew exactly where we were. After this we are seriously considering getting a SPOT as well because of it's 911 function.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/safinney/Expedition%20Pictures/th_P3010015.jpg (http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/safinney/Expedition%20Pictures/?action=view&current=P3010015.jpg)

[HawkH]

Scott - Glad you're feeling well enough to at least get to the computer. We'll continue praying for you and Debbie.
Hope your job is going well.
Pete

[wallypiper]

Ouch! Glad no serious injuries and sorry about the Expedition. Tell the truth. Were you playing? Was Debbie telling you to slow down? It's every husband's worst nightmare.

[meghan]

Wow, I'm really glad you're both alright.

[Seca]

Firestone tires? Glad you ok!

[Reece]

Sweet Jeebus! Glad you're ok, Scott!

[highside]

Wow Scott! Glad you guys are ok.

[TLR67]

Wow.. Glad your OK Kat... When did you move out there???

[Todd]

Damn Scotty!! Glad youre alright and that you guys were wearing your seat belts! :eek:

[LadyJaye]

Holy crap! Glad to hear you guys are alright.

[signguy]

Damn... glad you are ok. How the hell did you manage to roll it?

[Mongo]

He's from Ohio :D


Glad you guys are okay but knowing that means the fun making can start!

[JSKeezy]

Damn mane glady you are alright... I know where you were at...Mother lives in ABQ and the roads are pretty strange in that state, especially after some kind of act of GOD!!

[Woodk61000]

Sunday must have been the day for Ford roll overs. My mom was behind this Excursion when it flipped up in Tennessee. Unfortunately, they werent as lucky as you guys. A five year old little girl got thrown out of the truck during the flip and was killed.
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[ramm]

Woah! Glad you're alright man, here's to a speedy recovery!

[Carbon Can Kat]

Ouch! Glad no serious injuries and sorry about the Expedition. Tell the truth. Were you playing? Was Debbie telling you to slow down? It's every husband's worst nightmare.


Damn... glad you are ok. How the hell did you manage to roll it?

No we weren't playing around and she wasn't telling me to slow down. I got off the expressway to show her the road where the Abo Ruins were. The road our subdivision is off of runs into that road. So it was more of a scenic detour. She was also commenting on the weather and how different a storm in the desert looked. So we were driving towards the ruins and home which was towards a pretty good thunderstorm on the mesa. When we got off the interstate the external temp on A/C control was 45 so I didn't think anything about the road getting slick. As we drove into the rain it got heavier and the wind started to pick up a bit but it seemed nothing more than a typical storm here on the mesa as that is how the storms out here act. We crested a small rise and were on fairly flat land when I started to hear more of tink, tink, tink sound in the rain. So I asked Debbie do hear that or see the sleet in the headlights? She said she did't see any sleet in the lights she looked down at the temp and commented on how fast the temperature had dropped. I looked down and it was 35 now and told her that this would probably turn to snow and we should get home before things get bad. She looked over on the side of the road and it was covered in a light coat of white. She said "Is that sand on the side of the road?" I said no thats the sleet starting to accumulate. No sooner than I said that then the back end of expedition started a to slide towards the passenger side of the road. I steered into the skid and lifted off the gas to correct it and it started to come around back towards the lane. When it came back around it just kept right on coming and didn't straighten out. So we did about a 270 degree rotation before the back end went into the drainage ditch. When the rear wheels got off the road I just stood on the brakes hoping the wheels would sink into the soft dirt and we wouldn't hit the backside of the drainage ditch thinking that if the back end hit the other side we would either flip or roll over when it got to that point. Sure enough we skidded all the way to the other side and the rear bumper dug into the bank and we started to roll. We went over 1 and 1/2 times and end up on the roof. Crap from the console and dirt from the outside was raining down on us as we finished rolling and the car settled. We were both suspend from our seatbelts upside down and my feet and legs were caught up in the pedals and steering wheel. Both of our concerns were immediately for each other. I think we both said to the other one at the same time "Are you alright?" Debbie managed to free herself first and make her way towards the back of the car where the rear side glass had broken out since neither of the front doors would open more than an inch or two. By the time she had made her way back there someone had stopped and were in the process of asking if we were okay and helping us get out of the car. Debbie didn't want to crawl out across the broken glass so I found the lift gate glass and unlock buttons on the remote and the couple that stopped lowered that so she could exit there. Once I got untangled and moving around I tried to kick out her window to exit there since my legs were starting to cramp up and I was a bit disoriented. The man who stopped to help got her door open enough where I could squeeze out. I grabbed my cell phone and GPS as I saw them knowing I could use them to call for help as I exited the car. After checking to make sure we were both safe and relatively unhurt they called 911 and used the GPS coordinates to tell them our location. Although we were out in the country on the mesa help got there surprisingly quick. It took maybe 5 minutes for the State Trooper to show up and maybe another 5 to 7 minutes after that the fire truck and EMTs were there. The EMTs started to check us out and recommend that we go to the hospital. Debbie was saying her shoulder hurt pretty bad and I was more concerned about that than me. When we got in the ambulance they started working on her and then asked me about my injuries. I didn't think anything of it and said my back hurt right between the shoulder blades. When I said that we had a discussion about getting me on a backboard and being strapped down. Didn't think it was all that serious but agreed to it anyway since I started to remember how OT thought his injuries at Roebling weren't that bad at first. Debbie said she was thinking the same thing on our way to the hospital. We had both discussed just having the couple that helped us drive us to the house and taking the Focus onto the hospital. So we wound up with an hour long ride into Albuquerque to the UNM Hospital. Overall our injuries are very minor, bruises, contusions and just general soreness and stiffness. Probably be a week or 10 days until we are back up to where we were before the accident.

[Carbon Can Kat]

Wow.. Glad your OK Kat... When did you move out there???

I moved out here in November, Debbie is still in Atlanta until I can get benefits at my new job. When that happens she will move out here as well. Hopefully it won't be long I miss having her around. She is truly my best friend and when we were in Atlanta we were pretty much tied at the hip.