I had a bad day.

[johnwag]

I was in the process of running my Oklahoma route today. I work for my friend and I use his VW Golf TDi because of it's great fuel mileage.
I'm driving southbound on Highway 69 about 15 miles north of McAlester. I was tired from getting up at 2:30am but not anymore than I usually feel on this route. Everything is fine, I'm listening to music, then suddenly I'm asleep.............
I awaken to the view of the car being inches from the concrete barrier. I have no time to react. The driver's front tire rolls up the wall, while at the same time, the airbags deploy from the edge of the bumper hitting the barrier. I'm frightened and the car is moving in a straight line. As I apply the brakes, tires start locking up and screeching and I'm suddenly backwards in the right lane. The car continues spinning and I'm now headed toward the edge of the road. The car spins 180* again, while I'm off road, and I come to a stop in some real thick brush and bushes. Recap: I spun 360* plus another 90*
Airbag smoke is filling the car and I can't move because the seatbelt is so tight. The car is still running and I couldn't move due to the thick grass and soft mud.
Thankfully, I'm not a panicer. I roll the window down due to the smoke and get the seatbelt off. The window then falls into the door, but doesn't shatter.
I get out of the car, take a breather, then assess the damage.
No damage to the fender, front bumper or hood from the impact. (amazing!)
I open the hood to find the radiator hanging down. It's not in good shape. Can't tell how bad the damage is since there is so much grass. I walk around the vehicle and can see the prison highway cleanup crew coming toward me. They offered to help me get the car out of the grass, while a lady and her daughter stop after apparently seeing this all happen from their rear view mirrors. The ladies had already called the OHP, so the prison crew left.
20 minutes or so pass and the patrolman shows up. He calls a wrecker and writes an incident report. Then he leaves. The lady and her daughter stay around for a little while, give me some advice and then they leave.
Tow truck shows up after another 15-20 minutes. They drag the car out. I look at the car to assess the damage. It isn't pretty. I have a busted radiator, messed up AC Condenser, broken front lip from the off-road endeavor, 2 deployed airbags, a cracked windshield, a badly bubbled tire, some random, broken, expensive- looking electronic stuff and some damaged AC/power steering lines.

We drive to McAlester. I pay $200 for them to tow me 15 miles or so and I'm stuck there. I walk a mile or so to Sonic for some food. A marine recruiter approaches me about joining. I decline. We have a nice conversation anyways. I tell him what went down, where I'm from, etc. He gives me a ride back to the wrecker place. I take a nap for however long and my friend's buddy shows up in the tow truck after 4.5 hours have past. I finally get home around 7:30pm.

All in All.........I feel stupid for wrecking my friend's car and I'm PISSED at myself. My friend says it okay. He says that we will work this out and it has happened to him before too. (just not as severe) Our VW tech friend is gonna do what he can to repair it. I have to pay for it, of course, so I might be working for free. Anybody need some part time help? I need the cash.

I will very likely have some pics of this.

[POS Racing]

Sucks about your day, but glad you are OK.

[MiataMike]

Damn Yo, at least your OK. I've done the same thing before only I was lucky enough to not have anything close by to run into. Things have a way of working out, so keep your head held high. You'll get through it and be smarter because of it.

[Nexus Flux]

Glad to hear that you are OK, sucks about the car though. Don't worry, car's are fixable/replacable, human lives are not.

[trickyrix]

Holy crap! Glad to hear you're ok... sucks about the car, but hey, it's only a VW...

[aalvarez04]

Like everyone else, glad to hear your okay. The car is fixable/replaceable.

[Miatamoto]

Yikes! Sorry to hear about this John. Good to hear you're ok.

[black roadster]

What everyone else said. Burning the candle at both ends isn't a good thing. I did that when I first was in college and ended up in the hospital after fainting. Good thing I wasn't driving.

Glad you're ok buddy. It'll work out.

[HudsonHawk]

As everyone else said, good to hear you were not hurt. Sucks about the car but it can be repaired/replaced.

[MadMonkey]

Man, that sucks!!!

I went to sleep driving once and woke up quite a ways down the road... but still on it, at least. Scared the crap out of me.






And as for the VW...


"Time to UN-PIMP ze automobile!!!"


I had to.

[Sharpie]

Glad you're okay Jon. Can't you use your insurance or his?

[Magma]

Good to hear you ok, I guess I will make your DVD for free to help you out.

[randy7601]

That was scary! The car did a good job of protecting you though. You walked away instead of being took away in an ambulance.

[SirHustlerEsq]

I roll the window down due to the smoke and get the seatbelt off. The window then falls into the door, but doesn't shatter.

typical vw. Be happy the seatbelts didn't start a fire.




why didn't you call me?!?!?! I sat around in my hotel yesterday. I could have run you home, and scored a much needed hair cut.

At least this happened in a crappy vw, and not the miata.

[Ataim]

Glade that your are ok, hopefully it will not cost too much

[bnordin]

Thankfully you nor anyone else was injured. I'd say you have a lot to be happy about!

[johnwag]

Thanks for the concern guys! I was able to get some pics.

I should have called you Trey. I wasn't thinking clearly.

Not sure what else is damaged.

[johnwag]

Can't you use your insurance or his?

Joel has a $1000 deductible and doesn't want to add a third incident to his insurance.
I only have liability on my car.

Like I said, my buddy Dave is a VW tech. He's gonna take care of the mechanicals and he has some connections on parts.
Just getting the car on the road is the focus, now. We'll take care of body stuff later.

[trickyrix]

Yikes!

I think I'd just roll those airbags up and stuff 'em back in their holes... then seal the cracks with a little Gorilla Glue or something.

[boisking]

John, Glad you're OK. Remember, it could have been worse. My little brother fell asleep at the wheel, the car flipped over 1.75 times and got totaled. He was in Colorado in winter and had to climb out the side window of a car sitting on the other side. He totaled the car, of course. This happened to be the nicest car he's ever owned. Since he was on a road trip, the car was loaded with stuff. Some of his belongings were lost to theft from the scene (we suspect either the tow truck driver, of the "Good Samaritan" trucker who stopped. To pour salt in the wound, the po-po that arrived on the scene gave Jack a ticket for failure to maintain lane position.