Allow the story to unfold...
We left Baltimore on Saturday morning and headed to DC. The husbands dropped us off on the mall and went in search of parking. An hour and a 1/2 later, they had given up on finding a spot near the city and were taking off to a town called Roslyn to park and catch the subway into DC. We felt terrible that we had seen so much of the city while the poor hubbies were endlessly driving. Once they finally found parking, it took them an hour to come back into DC (walk, subway, walk) and find us. It was not a good way to start our day. We spent some more time exploring. The cherry blossoms were in bloom...the whole city was light pink.
The kids tired out (and the adults) and we decided to head for home. Again, the guys had to walk, ride the subway, walk some more, than drive through the horrible DC traffic to come pick us up. We were all exhausted, frustrated, and ready to head home.
We left the city and had just got on 295 when the unimaginable happened. A white van on an access road to the right of us cut off a woman in a land rover. She swerved left to avoid him, saw herself heading towards a parked 18 wheeler on the side of the road, swerved right and ended up jumping the curb and flipping upside down...RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. Her car careened across the highway on its roof. Luckily, no one on 295 was in her path at that moment. A moment later and our friends (the Honda Ridgeline on the right side of the photo) would have been involved.
As Wayne (our good friend and driver of the Ridgeline) jumped out to help, we saw the woman begin to emerge from the broken window. Thankfully and miraculously, she was uninjured. We were at the accident scene about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before they let us go.
So, we started out for home again. Once on 95, we again feared for our lives. There was a group of about 20 or so motorcycles that were driving insanely fast and weaving in out of traffic. One came very close to our right fender (so close I screamed). They were being incredibly reckless and had no regard for their own lives, let alone anyone in cars around them.
I went on Youtube to see if I could find anything close to show you what we experienced:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SgeC0IMfIs&NR=1
The bikes don't seem to be going as fast, but the speed is hard to judge. The video does give good perspective of the sound of the bikes as the approach. You can hear them coming and in a split second they pass you and are gone. The really scary part is how fast they weave in and out and cut you off to pass. We all feared for our lives and safety on the way home. Michelle called 911 to alert the police...but likely the police could never catch them.
Normally, I would end my post by saying something like I hope everyone got all their favorite candy and had a yummy Easter dinner. Given my new perspective on just how fragile life is, I'll end with I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Easter. Treasure every moment...one never knows when it is all over.
1 comment:
WOW! What a weekend! I feel bad for the guys who had to deal with that horrible traffic. It is unfortunate that there are not more parking garages downtown.
And the wreck and motorcycles... yikes. That women in the crash has got to be extremely thankful that she wasn't injured. Those motorcyclists obviously aren't too concerned about their lives or the lives of others and it is terribly sad. It sounded like you need a vacation for your vacation!
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