Crash!

Thank goodness Wally makes a good bicycle, because I'm going to be riding him around town for a while. You see, Ron and I are currently short one vehicle, and I can't be stranded without a car when I have to get over to Sue's to give a riding lesson.

Why this set of circumstances?

Well... On the way home from my doctor's office on Wednesday I rear-ended a truck on the freeway. I wasn't on my cell phone. I wasn't eating or drinking anything. I wasn't trying to switch CDs and steer at the same time. I think I was just distracted. And overwhelmed. And exhausted.

It had been a rather tortuous time at the doctor's office. First I had to sit with the representative from the company that manufactured the implant I have. She fiddled with her computer, getting it to "talk" with the computer I have in me to adjust the settings. Then I got the joy of having the stitches and staples removed. While it was a relief to be rid of them, I began to feel like a horse having its mane pulled. Every so often I couldn't help but say, "Yikes!"

On the way home, the adrenaline that had been coursing through my body began to subside. I was cruising down the freeway, looking forward to getting home so that I could groom Wally and put him to bed. But as I neared my exit, I realized that the big truck in front of me had stopped. I slammed on my brakes-- I was driving my husband's near-new Toyota SUV-- but I knew instantly that I was not going to be able to stop in time.

Bang! Crunch!

Fortunately, the man in the truck was not injured. In fact, his truck didn't appear to be damaged much at all. But the Toyota's hood was crumpled like an accordion. In the horse world, I'd compare it to riding a dainty, narrow-barreled Thoroughbred in a crowded warm-up ring and then, while cantering, body slamming into a warmblood. A warmblood that was standing still.

After we exchanged insurance information, the man drove away in his truck. Meanwhile, my husband's SUV limped to the side of the freeway until it could be coaxed onto a tow truck. It's being stabled at the body shop in town until it's remodeled. And trust me, that will take a while.

So, like I said, it's a good thing that Wally doesn't mind being a bicycle. Yesterday I rode him over to Sue's and sat on him while I gave a private lesson to one of my students. And tomorrow I'll probably do the same thing. I've also been riding him to the stack of mailboxes that serve my neighborhood. I hop off, unlock my mailbox, stick all of the correspondence in my saddle bag, climb back on and ride home. It's all much like a modern day Pony Express if you think about it.

Honestly, if I could figure out how to carry home a bag of groceries on Wally, I'd do that, too. There really are hitching posts outside several of the little markets near me. But I'm afraid that milk would be churned into butter by the time Wally carried me back to my house.

So getting the car fixed and back in the barn-- I mean garage-- will be very, very nice. Wally agrees.

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