This is Erin. This story is from December 31, 2010 (New Years Eve). Do you remember how weird and awful the weather was that day? 39 degrees and raining! Anyway, I wanted to go to the fitness center that morning, so I loaded up all 4 of the kids, in the cold and rain, (the realization of which when I went outside very nearly made me turn around and go back in) to go to there.
We get to the facility, and I pull up to the entry doors for a second to check which entrance they were using for child care that day. I then needed to back up to actually get lined up to pull into a parking spot by the correct doors. So, I backed up, keeping an eye out for any other cars pulling into the parking lot. Also, for reference, I have a back up sensor on the truck that (as far as I know, every other time, consistently) starts beeping very annoyingly and persistently any time there is anything behind the truck.
Suddenly, I hear this horrible grinding sound and the truck jolts a little bit. I stop immediately, put the truck back into drive, and try to drive forward. The truck would not move. Mind you, this is a ridiculous beast of a vehicle…a diesel Ford Excursion. I stopped again a moment, kind of stunned, and then tried again, giving a little more effort to the gas pedal. We moved forward, but at a very uncomfortable, grinding, kind of lurching gait. I go forward a couple truck lengths and stop, thinking I’m doing irreparable harm to this vehicle by trying to drive it.
So, I get the kids out of the vehicle, into the freezing cold and pouring rain, thinking I can at least let them go in and play with the other kids while I figure out how in the world I am going to get us home, since I am going to have to call a tow truck and find someone who can fit us all in their vehicle to get us home. (Josh is in Ohio for work.) We get in the doors, only to find that there isn’t even any child care that day!!!
This is the post that I tore out of the ground, bent over, and broke the top several inches off of. I do wish I had thought to take a picture of the truck too…but it didn’t really show much. The bumper had a gash in it, but not much else was visible. Too bad the damage was still $900…