NOT YOUR EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE (THANK GOODNESS!)

[This post was updated to include a picture of the Subaru.]

We have been in town since Elderberry Fest closed on September 30. We had appointments, meetings, hunting trips – so we just stayed in town. And besides, that smoke just hangs in the air and Clearwater County seems to get the worst of it.

Mike is preparing for yet another out-of-the-area hunting trip, but I said we just had to make a trip to the farm to check the pears I left on the porch. I could go alone, we agreed, but we decided to make it a combined bird hunt, check-on-the-pears, get-what-we-need togetherness trip. We left the town house early – about 7:30.

As we traveled Highway 12, we had passed the spot known as Cherry Lane and in one of the big bends, we had just passed an empty flat-bed truck. We were at the point where the westbound traffic (coming toward us) has a passing lane. Suddenly a white Subaru station wagon traveling west at highway speed veered off the road and disappeared over the embankment toward the river. Mike immediately pulled off the road and stopped, the truck right behind us. The truck driver was already on the phone with emergency services.

Long story short, the driver of the Subaru, a young woman, failed to negotiate the curve of the road – perhaps fell asleep. The vehicle carried her across rocky terrain to the river, which happened to be shallow at that point. The vehicle didn’t roll and took a path where there were no trees. When I reached the site, the driver had already left the car, waded through shallow water, and Mike and another passerby were helping her to the bank. What was her reaction? She placed a call on her cell phone – probably to her dad -- and mostly ignored those of us who were on site and trying to help her. I really do cut her a lot of slack for what was surely a traumatic experience. I feel blessed today for having found her alive.
 

By the way, the fisherman across the river appeared not to miss a cast and did not get involved. He was on the other side of the river, but I  did wonder -- if it had been a fatality would he have kept on fishing? 

We did not tarry. Emergency services were on the way, and the truck driver, having placed the call, was charged with the responsibility of staying on site until they arrived, which he seemed only too happy to do. We continued on our way.

The pictures here are not about the accident but about the hike I took at the farm. Mike and Nellie were hunting, and I just didn’t feel up to tramping the steep hillside. Instead I took a different route, hiking over June’s place and taking pictures of the smoke-filled canyons.

The hunt was unsuccessful and Mike arrived at the house before I did, so he came looking for me on the 4-wheeler. He found me by the time he was at the top of June's hill. I was sorry he worried. I hardly ever get lost on the farm.

And the pears? Not as bad as I had feared. I had two two-gallon buckets full. I sorted through and tossed eight of them. I brought the rest to town and have yet to decide what to do with them.

I had carried a lunch for us, but having accomplished our chores, we decided to go back to town in the forenoon. That's how it is when life is filled with such exciting things to do. 

[Photo 1: Mike and Nellie crossing June's field beyond the pond.

Photo 2: Looking down Stove Creek and across Little Canyon to Central Ridge.

Photo 3: The farmyard.

Photo 4: A picture of the Subaru in the Clearwater River which appeared on the front page of The Lewiston Tribune on Wednesday, October 10, 2012.
Photo 5: Another view to Central Ridge.

Photo 6: Looking southward into Little Canyon, which is filled with smoke.

Photo 7: And this looks northwesterly into the smoke-filled canyon above Peck.] KW