It rained today while I was on the road, and I had one of my most frightening car experiences to date. Now, let me preface this by saying that I’ve never been in a serious car wreck; I’ve been really lucky where cars are concerned, so you probably have a worse story than mine, but this still scared the crud out of me, and this is my blog, so I get to tell my wussy near wreck story like it’s a big deal.

I was on Bee Caves road out west of Austin, and the rain was intense but not torrential. As I turned a corner, my wheels stopped gripping the road, and suddenly I was going sideways down my lane. I pulled my feet off both pedals and gripped the steering wheel in a death grip, trying to straighten out, and completely not remembering if I’m supposed to turn into or away from the turn. The car starts fishtailing, and fortunately heads for the shoulder and not the three lanes to my left, and I kick up giant clods of dirt while careening towards where the hill was cut back to allow for the road (in Texas, we don’t go over the hills, we go through them) and I am thinking how glad I am that it’s the backend of my car and not the front that’s going to slam into the limestone and then wondering who I should call first if I wreck into it. Car fishtails again just before impact, spinning this time, throwing up more dirt, and finally I come to a stop facing the opposite direction of traffic.

I’m in one piece; I’m in the dirt, not on the road; I’m close to a turn, but not so close that oncoming traffic will never see me will never see me; and now I start trembling as the Beatles tell me to take a sad song and make it better. Overall, I am mostly proud of myself that I waited until after the car quit skittering around the road to be afraid, and after a few moments of breathing, I get back on my way, with a new appreciation for the ten and two position (which I’m pretty sure I was already in because of the rain, but try breaking my hands from that now).

Anti-climactic? Yes. Is there a moral lesson here? No. But it’s my blog, and I was scared, so I’m telling you about it. Safe travels, y’all!