Widdershins

Yesterday I got into my first car accident.
I'm fine, Dad's fine, the car is mostly fine, and there were no other cars involved.

I drove to Osaka to pick Dad up from Kansai Airport yesterday. And that is one long, crazy drive. We agreed that when anyone else comes to visit me, they should definitely fly into a closer airport (Izumo, Yonago, or Hiroshima) or resign themselves to taking the bus to Matsue. Osaka has no snow, and was relatively warm as we were driving back (and getting lost in Kobe—but that's another kettle of fish).

Saijo is a town in Hiroshima Prefecture, just across the border from Yokota. So we were almost home when I took a lefterly curve a bit too fast (~60km/h). The air was freezing, and it was snowing lightly, but the road was clear... except for this one stretch of ice. I felt the car sliding, and then we were spinning counter-clockwise for ages, and I had a vague sense that something dangerous was happening, and that I must be dreaming but probably wasn't. I don't remember if the car made one full rotation or two, but when it finally stopped, I realized my feet weren't on any pedals, so I guess I did well.

I pulled over and we got out to survey the damage. Not too bad, except the left foglamp is broken, and the front left signal is broken, too, and now the left signal blinks twice as fast as before, so there's some circuitry damage as well. The left headlight is a bit damaged, but still works. Dad noticed a bit of fluid running downhill—from beneath the car, it appeared—but it didn't smell or feel oily, so I'm not sure what it is. Maybe antifreeze. Then Dad said, "Let's get out of here, before someone does the same thing and crashes into us." So we were off. I drove very slowly back home, with visions of the car careening off the Okuizumo Orochiloop, which we still had yet to pass. (The photo is the first one on that page.)

But we're gonna take her out on the road again today, to drive to Akagi where we'll meet with Trevor and Matt, and ride down with them to Miyoshi, and take the train to Hiroshima. The roads look dry here, and it's not too cold outside, so we should be set. Gotta get back up on that horse.