Death of Crunchinator

It started like an average rest day...lazily. I got up, made breakfast, and got ready to drive into town to do some emailing and various town things. I have been climbing and hanging out with Jay and Kate, two most excellent human beings I met at Devil's Tower. We were all taking a rest day. I got up earlier, and left for town first.

On the drive to town, everything suddenly stopped being normal. I was coming around a curve, heading down a hill, when suddenly, my wheels started to slide. I tried to react to the fishtail, but things started happening really fast. I tapped the guard rail, and the rear of my truck swung around. I was now sideways, perpendicular to a downhill road, and to my direction of travel, in a top heavy vehicle, with extra weight on top in my gear box. Not good. I felt the car start to tip and there was nothing I could do except wait for the ride to end and hope I came out of it alright.

The truck came to rest on the driver's side. I remember noticing that it was still sliding after thinking it had stopped moving. I guess it must have spun around while it was sliding, because it came to rest with the wheels facing downhill and the front away from the guardrail...definitely not the way it started. I think it rolled onto the top then back onto the driver's side. It probably slid 100 feet after it started rolling.

My first thought after the truck stopped moving was, "I have to get out of here." Then, I calmed down a little, and turned off the ignition, un-buckled my seatbelt, untangled myself from the stuff and started to climb out. I opened the passenger side door and some kind soul held it open for me while I climbed out. Those doors are heavy.

After a while, Jay and Kate came by on their way into town. Seeing me, they stopped. Kate was a complete sweetheart, comforting me and making sure I drank plenty of water. After getting all my stuff thrown into my car at the tow yard (if you can call it that....), we headed into Rapid City. I decided, since the truck is certainly totaled, the most expedient course would be to buy a new car. Since my car was also my home, going without one would be tricky, and I didn't want to impose on Jay and Kate any more than necessary. If I couldn't buy a car right away, I would need to rent one.

Me with the until-recently-trustworthy steed

Inspecting the damage

My life spilled out into the back of a pickup

Jay and Kate, two of the most awesome people in the universe.

I quickly located a 1999 Subaru Outback that was in my price range, and completed the purchase by 4:00 or so. No pics of the new ride, yet. I should have taken some, but I didn't. Anyway, from there I bought a new Yakima box, which mounted nicely on the Outback's factory rack, and, soon was back in business. I headed back to the morgue to pick clean the body of my fallen soldier. It was a long and arduous task, but I got the new car loaded up and ready to go and was back at camp by 10pm. I still need to install my stereo in the new car and finish putting up curtains, and a few other finishing touches, but home is well on it's way to being re-established.

More soon with pics from climbing at Devil's Tower and the Black Hills!