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As usual, we started our trip with a prayer for safety, and I wasn't concerned, since I had fine-tuned the brake controls, carefully adjusted the sway bar, and done everything else I could think of to ensure our safety. We had some rain as we drove through Dothan AL and on up through Alabama, but nothing terribly bad. But just above Phenix City everything went bad.
Coming down a hill on Hwy 80 just before the AL/GA line at the Chattahoochee River, I felt the trailer suddenly "twitch" to the left.
"Uh-oh" said my wife Pat.
"No, it's OK," I replied, feeling the trailer right itself.
But it wasn't OK. The trailer swayed three more times, each worse than the last, and on the third sway took us completely out of control. We were going down the road sideways, and nothing I could do had any effect on the skid. I saw a guardrail coming up and was powerless to avoid it. As tree branches shattered the windshield I remember thinking, "So this is what it's like to die in a major car wreck". We traveled about 150 feet through the trees, in the process going down into a ditch 50 feet below the road. We finally came to a stop against a clump of trees, turned over on the passenger's side.
Later Pat told me she had been praying, "Lord, please let Jim live, because he can take care of the children, and I don't want to live without him."
Now that we had come to a stop, she asked, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine", I said, "How about you?"
"I'm fine, too", she replied, "Praise the Lord!"
After we overcame some trouble getting our seatbelts open, we climbed out a broken window (they were ALL broken) and sat down in the mud. In the fading twilight Pat could see blood all over one side of my head and neck and was terrified.
"Lord!" she prayed aloud, "Didn't anyone see this happen? They'll never see us down here!"
Just then we saw a lady slipping and sliding down the muddy bank. In her hand was a bag with "EMT" written on the side. This angel sent by God turned out to be an industrial nurse, though, with EMT training. She had been on her way home from work when she saw us wreck; she called 911 and then came down to help us.
She found that the blood was coming from some cuts on my ear and reassured Pat that it wasn't serious. Then she put a compress on my ear to stop the bleeding.
Within a minute or two the real EMTs showed up. Someone asked, "Is there anyone else in the car? Any children?"
"My dog is in the back," I replied.
"There's no dog there," he said. My heart sank.
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