A Keeper

Today, I became very aware of the importance of "keeping" and very grateful to
be able to forward this message and to return it to the friend who sent
it to me.

Last week for only the third time in the nine years I owned it, my
pickup truck, affectionately named "Victor", wouldn't start.  This
happened in the parking lot at work, and fortunately, my brother could
come and get me and recommend a good repair shop nearby.  It took nearly
$500 to replace the coil and ignition wires, but Victor was worth it,
for all the furniture and hay hauled, all the volunteer work done, all
the hours of safe commuting, all the horses safely hauled.  Victor
represents a link to my life in Kentucky and besides, "he's paid for".
A good pickup truck well maintained and gently driven will easily go for
300,000 miles.

Yesterday afternoon, as I going home in Victor, a sixteen-wheel semi
tractor/trailer commercial vehicle rearended me, forcing out of the
rightmost lane of the interstate into the ditch alongside.  My momenteum
carried me up the bank, fighting to steer so as not to flip my truck
which overran four or five poles of the chain link fence set to keep
pedestrians off the highway.  It was like being on a train track. The
right wheels of the truck were running over the chainlink and the poles
wouldn't let me get off.  Something on the ground flipped the truck off
the bank back on the interstate at right angles to the flow of traffic,
back in front of the semi which had struck me earlier.  I tried to
steer, got the truck pointed right and for a nanosecond thought I might
be able to regain control.  I think the semi hit me again, and that was
when the tailgate of the truck came off.  The truck was propelled off
the road and plowed thru both ditch and chainlink fence. The brake
fought me, but I got both feet on it and got the truck stopped about 25
feet off the road.  The top guide wire of the fence got caught in the
truck grill and this probably helped.

I've got a bruise on my left leg and marks from the seat belt.  I'm
still replaying that frantic five seconds described above.  Victor has a
smashed left tail light and a clear impact on that corner where the semi
first hit.  The tailgate was on the side of the road under the back
wheels of the semi when it stopped.  Victor's right side is scraped from
the fence and there is a deep impact just behind the cab and just
forward of the rear wheel.  The body damage is probably repairable.  The
unknown is the undercarriage which took an extensive beating.  I may not
be able to keep my beloved pickup any longer, but thank heaven, it sure
did a good job of keeping me.