spartonboat1
Legendary Member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2005
- Messages
- 2,494
- Hatteras Model
- 43' DOUBLE CABIN (1970 - 1984)
Damn near bit the dust and met my maker, along with the Admiral, after returning from last winterizing run, Sun. Night (Nov 15). I.e., barely missed a direct head-on with a semi.
We were running on a two lane road at about 60mph, around midnight on a dead straight stretch of highway, when a semi seemed to be moving over the center line. Trouble was, he was not course correcting and was headed directly for me.
This is not my first time to be run off the road, so I instantly started to evaluate how much room I would have by the time we were grille to grille. Answer- none- I headed for the shoulder, weeds and gravel. This all happened in 3-4 seconds. He fully occupied my lane by the time we passed each other and he missed me by 5-6 feet. I quickly looked to return to the road, because on-coming road signs were off to the side of the road. I missed some of them by 2-3 feet.
The sound of the gravel immediately awoke the Admiral who was dozing. She had time to see his headlights 50 feet away closing at 120mph...pass rapidly on the left and no time to scream; then to see the various signs, zipping by on the right.
I could have turned around and got his L. number, but wimped out and only called 911 and kept going. I later stopped at a lit up gas station and inspected the under carriage for damage with a flashlight. Thankfully, the only evidence was grass and dirt debris jammed into some body cavities.
Well, my thanks to the Lord and new car which handled like a dream under adverse circumstances.
We were running on a two lane road at about 60mph, around midnight on a dead straight stretch of highway, when a semi seemed to be moving over the center line. Trouble was, he was not course correcting and was headed directly for me.
This is not my first time to be run off the road, so I instantly started to evaluate how much room I would have by the time we were grille to grille. Answer- none- I headed for the shoulder, weeds and gravel. This all happened in 3-4 seconds. He fully occupied my lane by the time we passed each other and he missed me by 5-6 feet. I quickly looked to return to the road, because on-coming road signs were off to the side of the road. I missed some of them by 2-3 feet.
The sound of the gravel immediately awoke the Admiral who was dozing. She had time to see his headlights 50 feet away closing at 120mph...pass rapidly on the left and no time to scream; then to see the various signs, zipping by on the right.
I could have turned around and got his L. number, but wimped out and only called 911 and kept going. I later stopped at a lit up gas station and inspected the under carriage for damage with a flashlight. Thankfully, the only evidence was grass and dirt debris jammed into some body cavities.
Well, my thanks to the Lord and new car which handled like a dream under adverse circumstances.
