I know I've been very quiet around here lately. Nothing to report, there ought to be a big check (the estate finally got settled) coming in soon but I've said that before and thought that before and I'm not going to post on the swap until I have money in hand and it's already started happening.
That said, while working as a 2010 census guy I was heading down a twisty road at about 6 PM and spotted a deer running alongside my car. Knowing that deer are frequently insane, I jammed on the brakes. That was when the deer jumped from being in no danger at all to directly in front of me. KERPOW!
So here's the good news. I'm OK--walked away without a scratch. The windshield's OK, the airbags didn't go off, in fact Jez herself is driveable and tracks straight, no overheating, and is stable to at least *mumble* on the highway--enough to hit the speed limit in every state in the nation. I was amazed. Why? My great brakes and crappy broken Konis combined to save both me and her--nosedived something fierce under heavy braking and dropped from 45 to 5-10 in about a second. I actually braked hard enough to lock up the tires, something I've never been able to do before, and it was what it took to save us both. The deer bounced off the top of the hood instead of a straight front-end impact.
So here's the bad news. Government protections don't cover motor vehicles that you're supposed to have insured. WA state law doesn't require collision coverage, and thus I didn't have it--because a $300/month payment would have meant that my family would have starved since last winter. The body shop estimates are all ranging around $1,700.
So here's the slightly better news. The hood still latches and closes, since the hood latch got pushed back the exact same amount. I can still open and close the hood as before. The grill's not broken, due to using the original grill with the H4 RHD (sigh) lights I only HAD it fastened to the hood latch. The radiator support doesn't look unstraightenable, and while the AC fan is inoperative due to the shroud pushing it into the radiator, my entire AC system is already inoperative due to me previously mistaking a 10mm fitting on a hardline for the 10mm fitting that adjusts alternator tension. I've put another 350 miles on her since the accident (including 2 round trips to the Dalles) and she's mechanically sound. An aftermarket hood is about $75 and painting it would be about $400--but that's carbon fiber territory. Fortunately I was able to find a factory-sparkly-black one in a junkyard for about $125, and I need to pick that up this week.
To quote an old pilot saying, any landing you walk away from is a good landing, any landing where you can use the plane again afterward is a great landing. I had a great landing and I'm glad of it.
Still, though, 7th-gen folks, watch out for those damn deer and try to remember that our cars have all the sheet-metal integrity of a soda can!
1993 Toyota Corolla
) in the right lane. the truck started coming into my lane not paying attention, and as I swerved over, the pontiac was trying to get over. I slammed the brakes, layed on the horn and started fish tailing and drifting as my brakes locked up at about 70mph. I was able to keep in enough control between them that I didn't scratch either of them, but the pontiac I and I went off the interstate. The truck hauled ass. Since there was no apparent damage, me and the driver of the pontiac just caught our breath, and left. I wish that I could have gotten the truck drivers license plate number, because my front tires are trashed, and theres now vibration in the front end. 
Linear Mode
