Oh Deer!

Sometime in March of 2015, I received an invitation from one of my aunts who lives in Virginia to attend a convention later in the year, in July. It would be an opportunity to meet my relatives, friends and family, some of whom I hadn’t met in ages. The convention was at a small town 30 minutes from Washington DC and it is driveable from where I live. So I thought it didn’t require much planning. Also, as you may know I had plans of going to Montreal in June, which were kind of set in stone by then. Anyway, the interesting part of this story is not in the beginning but how it ended up in me making my first 911 call.

As the convention got closer, I started getting busier with research. I was working to meet a deadline and the convention couldn’t have come at a worse time. But the opportunity to meet a ton of my relatives and friends in one place was enticing. The event spanned the entire freedom weekend and I decided on Friday morning to rent a car and make the trip down south. I have a huge playlist¹ containing my favorite jams that I have on hand always.

I reached the place of the event at about 11 PM on Friday night. There were some cultural programs going on that people seemed to be engrossed in. I silently waded through some people traffic and caught up with some of my family friends. It was really nice meeting them after a long time. All I did² the whole of Saturday up until Sunday morning was eat great food and talk to family who were very happy that I made it. I was, too.

One of my uncles suggested that I avoid I-95 on my way back because it gets nasty on Sunday evenings. I took his advice and went on my way. It was going all smooth and I was making great time. I stopped for dinner at a diner near the New York State/Pennsylvania border and was on the home stretch. I was on I-88 just past Binghamton and it was empty. 1-2 cars every mile or so. It was about 9:15 PM.

Suddenly, I saw a totally unexpected picture in front of me. It was a deer within 2 feet of my car. Next thing I knew I was drifting³ all over the place (thinking “This is so cool!”) and somehow I managed to stop the car and pulled it over to the side. Fortunately, there were no vehicles around me. I shudder to think “What if?”.

I was there when this happened, unfortunately⁴.

I noticed this weird smell and I assumed it was either deer blood, leaking coolant fluid or a combination of both. I picked up my phone and dialed 911. I informed the dispatcher of my situation and he said he would inform the local police. I called my car rental company and informed them about the situtation as well. I texted some family members about incident and explicitly asked them to not tell my parents about it. Didn’t want to send them into panic mode when I knew there was nothing they could do from where they were.

I was standing on the side of a highway with my backpack and watching vehicles whiz past me. It was a surreal experience, one that I didn’t ask for but decided to sink it in anyway. A couple of good samaritans stopped and inquired about my well being. I appreciated their good gesture and told them help was on its way.

A cop showed up in about 20 minutes and he was a cool guy. He said this was the fourth incident he had to attend to in less than 24 hours! He asked me to sit in his car while he did the paperwork. The software he used looked so dated and boring. I’m glad I don’t have to use it. He was frustrated with it too, but there was no way around it. I briefed him about the incident and he filled it out and gave me a copy of his report. He said we would wait for the car to be towed and then he would drop me off at a hotel to stay the night.

After the towing guy showed up and he fastened the car to his truck, he offered to give me a ride to the hotel. It feels great to ride in such a big vehicle! You feel as though you are the king of the road. I think it would be hard for me to resist driving like I would in a video game if I were to ever drive that truck⁵. The tow truck guy had some cool stories to tell and he made sure there was a room available at the hotel before he called it a night.

Welcome to Oneonta!

The next morning, I called my car rental company and they said there sending a replacement car. The replacement car arrived soon enough and I drove the rest of the way concentrating more on the non-existent deers than on the road⁶.