When you sit behind the wheel of your off-roader, there’s so much metal around you. It’s easy to think nothing can ever go wrong. Who needs auto insurance? But then you meet someone like Jack and suddenly you aren’t as sure anymore. Jack was driving down from Eureka to Frisco. “It was early in the day so we decided to take off into the Lost Coast trails.” He smiled and talked for a while about his family’s love for nature. “We stopped a couple of times and mooched around. When the kids got hungry, we ate the food we’d bought along. It was all cool until I came round a redwood and hit a deer head on. We just sat there, stunned with airbags pinning us to our seats, a dead deer hanging off the hood and wreckage everywhere.” He seemed calm talking about it now. Back then, it was different.
“We climbed out of the car and tried calling for roadside assistance, but there was no signal. We were stranded in a wilderness, miles from anywhere. Guess that was the most frightening thing — being alone. We put up a warning round the tree so no one would plow into the wreck, then set off walking. It was about an hour before another vehicle showed up. They were local and knew a farm with a landline. Folks were really kind that day. Perhaps it was the kids who were all shook up. They got everyone on our side.”
The police came fairly quickly. A wreck on those unpaved roads is a real hazard. The tow truck had further to come. By then, Jack had contacted the auto insurance company so everything was on track for the rescue. He had a rental car policy but no local garage had cars to rent. So the family piled into a truck owned by a neighbor who took them down to Westport where they got a new set of wheels.
“It took a few days for the wreck to be shipped down to the body shop in Frisco. Not a surprise given where we’d abandoned it. The insurance agent was great help and got the claims department going. I guess we got to hear all the deer jokes but it was all sorted out in the end. Next time though, we’ll stay on the 101.”
