A Near Crash to Finish the Trip

Jul 26, 1986 Sat0
After visiting the Cascades area of Washington in 1984 I knew I had to return. I used my frequent flyer miles and booked a first class ticket to Washington in 1986 and hiked about 65 miles in the North Cascades Wilderness area over a week. I kept a travel diary and have reproduced it here as I wrote it in 1986.


6:00PM I will soon be in Raleigh about 45 minutes late. The connection in Atlanta was tight. I don't know what went wrong and I'm sure my bags did not make the flight.

I came within milliseconds and inches of a bad accident this morning. It was raining slightly in Seattle at 6:00AM. A car in front of me locked his brakes when someone stopped quickly in front of him. I hit the brakes and my car started skidding. I quickly realized I was going to hit the car very hard. It was strange how quickly I realized what was going to happen. I knew I was going to be in a bad accident.

Without looking to my right, I released the brakes and steered toward the right lane. Even then I knew that the tires would not catch in time. Or if they did the rear would skid with the sharp turn and my side of the car would hit the car in front of me.

My hood cleared with inches to spare. My rear followed and did not skid. I'll never know for sure how I did it. I think it was mostly instinct or reflex.

Must stop, we're descending into Raleigh.

Drifting and Taking the Road Less Traveled




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