"In Remembrance"

Where to start, yesterday was a very scary day for us!! We were on our way to Central Oregon yesterday morning, got about a mile East of Shorty's Corner and apparently hit a patch of black ice!! Duane tried to steer into it, there was a 4 ft ditch, and beyond that a driveway over a drainage pipe that had about a 5 ft drop coming at us. Apparently when our front tires hit the dirt, (and the mile marker) the steering away from the driveway and all turned us 180 degrees around and we landed on the driver's side in the ditch. The dogs were with us, they landed on the driver's window by Duane, and I was hanging by my seatbelt. 2 seconds later, a couple of guys were prying the passenger door open to see if we were okay. Fire, paramedics, Sandy police, State police, and oddly enough, the first rig on the scene was the tow truck!! Duane's canopy saved us from flipping or rolling all the way, probably saved the dogs for sure from getting hurt. They were scared to death, we handed them out, I wrapped Homer in a towel I had on the seat, and someone wrapped Tuco in a sweatshirt. They got me out next, then Duane got himself out. The gal that was holding Tuco was bleeding on her face, Tuco struggled and scratched her. I felt so bad, she was just trying to help. There were probably 15 to 20 people around us between the fire, rescue, police and good samaritans. I hugged the guys that pulled me out, and hugged the gals that held Tuco and Homer. Duane and I got bumps on our heads, Duane's left shoulder that came down on the driver's side hurts, and my chest and shoulders where the seatbelt had me hanging are sore today. We are both still in a state of shock I think. His poor little Tacoma is probably done for, it sustained a lot of damage. It was Duane's baby, he took such good care of it, had a lot of people offer him top dollar for it. The guys that looked at it yesterday said it was so clean and well cared for, they couldn't believe it was a 1996. So, needless to say, we aren't going anywhere this week, just waiting to get the final word on the truck's fate, and taking it from there. Thankfully we have towing and a rental car on our insurance, I highly reccomend paying whatever it takes to have that option on your policy, you never know when you might need it!!