Columbus, OH
Kharma... fate... justice... the Law of Maximum Perversity???

Saturday noon October 20th we are on our way back from the gym, southbound on the main thoroughfare, well under the 25 mph speed limit (remember, this is suburbia). As we approach a side street, a little old lady in a gray Honda Accord drove right through the stop sign without stopping, just a few feet in front of us. Of course I slammed on the brakes immediately, but despite the slow speeds involved, there wasn't enough room to stop completely.

The front of the van struck the Accord right about midships, caving in both curbside doors and the post in between -- the car ended up in a sort of a "C". On the other hand, the curbside end of the van's bumper was all scratched up, and there was a puddle of coolant underneath. The usual routine -- police were called, report made, insurance info exchanged, and insurance company phoned. We went a few blocks to an auto rental near our house, then had the van towed to the dealer from our house.

From this point on there was nothing but trouble with the insurance companies. The representative we called instructed us to have the damage repaired immediately, which we were only too happy to do -- in fact, the dealer had the bumper replaced by Tuesday. But when insurance learned that the coolant leak was from the intake manifold, they refused to accept responsibility. Weeks of arguing and phoning and eventually going to an attorney, and it still isn't settled.

Meanwhile, Bobbi had incurred whiplash, and Lew's old back injury was exacerbated. That meant PT for both of us -- and we're not done yet.

It took a month to get the van back, even without any agreement with the insurance companies. As soon as we did, we towed the Airstream to the factory in Jackson Center, to be gone over before we leave on our winter trip. We just got word that it is finished, so all we have to do is find some time between our various appointments and some decent weather to go pick it up.

Needless to say, there were no short trips to Toledo or otherwise this autumn. So we really are looking forward to joining this lady on the road: