Dear friends,
Ben and I were in a very good mood as we started early and on time for our trip to see our daughters and their families. We packed the night before. The car had been filled with gas, too. I even had some recorded tapes I borrowed from the library so that we could listen to them as we drove.
When you go to the coast from here you pass through a little town and then you swiftly rise into the mountains on a fine new toll road. It is easy to drive andhas long, long stretches of forests, mountains, for hundreds and hundreds of miles. It is a very high mountain road and it's cold up there. In winter this highway can be very dangerous up there in the winter clouds. There can be sudden blizzard, or sudden blinding fogs. The speed allowed to be driven is well over 100 km per hour. In summer the road is a delight. For many miles the vistas are beautifult, but after awhile the repetition of forests and mountains becomes tiring.
It is necessary to assure that the driver doesn't succumb to sleep or a form of "highway hypnosis." Therefore we go to Starbucks (a coffee chain), before we set out, to buy a delicious big and caffeine filled drink of coffee. One of those can keep me wide awake all day! I only buy them when I need to be alert because they are expensive, and also I don't want to get a caffeine habit. If I don't become used to them they will continue to have the power I need, but if I made them a habit my body would become accustomed to caffeine and wouldn't respond to it as well when I need it.
Once twelve years ago now, Ben and I became sleepy as we drove and were almost killed. We were driving a big, and very heavy car that had belonged to my parents. It was a four door Mercedes and weighed 2000 lbs, which is one whole ton. When it had to be serviced in a garage they put it on a truck hoist to get underneath it, because it was too heavy for the car hoist.
Well, that heavy parental car saved our lives and prevented any serious injury that day, but the big car itself was a "write-off". A "write-off" means that it would cost more to repair the car than the car was worth. It was by then an old 1976 classic car, a 280-S Mercedes Sedan. I bought it from my mother's estate after she died, and it served us well. I used it as my real estate car when I sold homes and property.
It had "cruise control". That means that you could set it to maintain a certain speed and the car would not go over or under that speed. When Ben went to sleep for an instant that day the car didn't turn at a curve and struck the concrete barrier on the right that was there to keep us out of a deep mountain valley. We became instantly alert, of course, and Ben fought to keep the car on the road. He tore his shirt from the effort. Due to the cruise control the motor never stopped racing at that fast highway speed, and so it shot back and forth across lanes for traffic about six times as it slewed backd and forth from the force of the blow on the front right hand tire. Every time it slewed again it went further. Finally the car leapt past the end of the barrier and down into a deep o the right, down into a deep ditch, it spun completely around from the force of hitting the other side of the ditch and began to come back up the hill onto the highway again when suddenly the motor died from damage. At last that racing driving motor had stopped. Ben tore his shirt, but I had whip-lash in my neck. The driver of a big truck going the other way had seen what was happending and stopped to help us. Soon an ambulance and the police came and dI was taken out immobile on a stretcher to the nearest hospital in a little town called Merrit. I had an examination and xrays to be sure my neck hadn't broken or been driven up into my throat at the back, and when they determined that my neck wasn't broken they put a big collar on it to keep it still and let us go. We had no car, so we took a bus.
We were on our way to Vancouver Island because our second daughter and son-in-law were waiting to leave for a big conference in New York City and we were to take care of their small baby and little girl while they were away. We got there by bus and taxi-cab, and they were able to leave on time for the plane to their important convention
All drivers must have insurance on their cars, so when we returned home, as owner, I had to go to the government insurance office to find out what they would give to replace the car if it couldn't be fixed, and what they would give to me for personal injury. Ben had to have a medical examination and a series of tests to determine if he had suffered a stroke or any other condition. It was determined that the high altitude caused him to lose consciousness. He was advised then to always travel with strong coffee in a thermos, and to get out before the high summit and walk around so that his blood circulation would be sufficient to stay awake.
The heavy car protected us, but the chassis was damaged and the engine pushed backward and there was too much damage for restoration.
Forunately, we received the value of the car since it couldn't be fixed, and wereable to buy our present small car, which is a Saturn. I also received a sum for for personal injury. As soon as the insurance adjuster saw the neck brace I was wearing he advised me to take it off immediately. He explained that it woulddo more harm than good, and described an experiment with a team of football players in very good condition. They had been given such neck braces to wear, and when they were removed after a relatively short time of a few weeks the necks of these big, powerful men were very weak. I believed him and took his advice, even though it was painful and scary to do without the stability of the brace. I had physiotherapy and exercise, and eventually fully recovered. Our insurance payments had covered the use of a rental car for a few days while we shopped around for a replacement for the "totalled" Mercedes. We agreed that we would never use "cruise control" again, unless it shuts itself off on impact!So now you know why we always stop at Starbucks for a strong jolt of enjoyable caffeine before a trip such as this, and take some along with us.
The day last week was perfect for travelling and when we stopped before the summit and later to eat we walked around and admired the views of the higher mountains with snow on top. The "summit" of a highway is it's highest point. The summit of a mountain is its peak.
I had borrowed some spoken tapes from the library to play in the car's tape-deck as we drove, to keep us entertained. It made the trip less boring, and also helped to keep us awake. The tapes were easy ones. Two were the stories of a veterinary doctor who practised fifty years ago in England. They are very funny and interesting. I also had some Sherlock Holmes mystery stories, and the sound track from a very interesting tv program about the pompous and hilarious doings of a hotel owner and his wife in England. It's called Fawlty Towers. They are fictional, and very, very funny, and they served us well both going and returning.
At last we reached the lowlands again and drove along through dairy farming areas with much other traffic and air pollution, and on through the outer quarters of the city and over a large bridge into the splendid city of Vancouver itself. We had pre-booked hotel accommodation at a hotel that came highly recommended by one of Ben's business associate-friends. It was "The Green Briar", on Robson Street.
To be continued....
