Everybody is Fine, or Why We Are Still in Shallotte, NC

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, Amy and I were driving in North Carolina. Actually, we'd only been in North Carolina a few miles when we were joined by a red van. The van was going below the speed limit by quite a bit, so at the first safe opportunity I passed him. Not very long later, the van suddenly sped up, and cut in front of us, then slowed down substantially again. Then the van started driving in the middle of the road, and I turned to Amy and said "We've got to get away from this guy." About that time, their emergency lights went on and the van started moving as though it were going to pull off on the right. Then it didn't. The driver pulled back into my lane and slammed on his brakes coming to a dead stop. I didn't have time to bring my car to a stop, despite valiant efforts, and we collided.

EVERYONE IS FINE. Seat belts and airbags and crumpley hoods did their job, and aside from a seatbelt bruise and sore muscles, I am unscathed. Amy fared a bit worse. She was not wearing shoes and the passenger airbag shattered the windshield and she cut a toe or two on the glass getting out. Everyone in the other car was also fine...

...Except for the driver's epileptic seizure. Which is why he slammed on the gas and then the brakes. Anyway, I feel like I did everything I could to avoid the accident -- I was TRYING to put distance between us -- but I was still cited for failure to brake.

The car is not fine. I mentioned the shattered windshield. The hood is pretty bashed in, the passenger door won't open and we left a lot of fluid on the highway. Which brings us to the other, and possibly more traumatic part of our tale.

So we called 911, who arrived pretty quickly, and the took more than an hour filling out reports and things. There was a Days Inn up the road, so Ames and I figured we'd get a hotel and stay the night, rent a car and be gone by morning. That is not what happened. What happened was when we asked the girl at the front desk if there were any rooms available she told us no. That was so unexpected that I thought she was messing with us, but for reals, there were no rooms available at that hotel or at any of the other three hotels in town. Apparently, its the beginning of "the season" and there was not a room to be found in Shallotte, NC. (In case you were wondering, that's pronounced sha-LOTE rhymes with goat.)

No worries! We thought, and decided that we would just rent a car and drive to Wilmington, a mere 30 miles to the north. That is not what happened. What happened was there are TWO rental car companies in Shallotte, NC, neither of which was open. One closes at noon on Saturday, and the other is just closed on Saturday. Our accident was at 5, so both those options were out. And to make the story even MORE fun, both companies are also closed on Sunday.

So, we found a resort with rooms available at a reasonable enough price about 10 miles away in Sunset Beach, NC. And decided we would call a taxi to get there. That is not what happened. What happen was I called no less than four taxi companies without success -- they we either closed or too far away. We had the brilliant idea of calling the local bishop (the leader of our church congregations) and got his, his councelors', and the stake president's number from my branch president. No one was home. Finally, we were recommended to a designated driver service who was able to take us out to our resort.

Amy and I had decided that once we had checked in, we would find a nearby restaurant and eat, since it was now almost 8:30p, and we were super hungry. That is not what happened. What happened was that the resort we're staying in is closer in spirit to a country club golf course, and there's no food nearby. Also, our Orbitz reservation was slow getting entered and checking into the room took forever.

Finally, however, we made it to our room (around 9:10pm) and got a pizza delivered (around 9:30pm. I was so excited I gave the delivery guy a $20 tip). The local bishop did call back, amd someone is picking us up for church today, which is nice, and so far it looks like we'll get out of here tomorrow. This does, however, put a major kink in my travel plans, so I'm kind of playing it by ear now.

Fingers crossed that I can get things figured out smoothly and quickly.