Subtitle:
20 years later, I lived to tell about it...
I revisited an old enemy today. One that took many years to face and I finally conquered it. Take a journey with me if you will...
It was a dark & stormy night... no really it was. It was mid-may 1993. I was driving along chambers creek road in my little blue 1979 Honda Crcc hatchback with my friend Jennifer Lund. We were heading to my best friend Dena's house... the road at this time, was quite narrow, had no guard rails, barely paved and had gravel shoulders. Not a good combo for a night of "May Rain" and an old car with bad brakes.
Needless to say as I drove southwest down the slippery slope, with Chambers Creek on my left, my car began to fishtail. I did what I learned in Drivers Ed, but alas... my left my front tire was grabbed suddenly by the gravel and over the cliff we went.
We literally pin-balled through the trees (had a tree imprint on the roof of the car I saw later at the junkyard.) and landed nose down onto a log at the base of the cliff. As we flew threw the air and crashed into everything, I heard my friend Jennifer Screaming and I curled into as much of a ball as I could, covering my head & face with my arms. And I prayed.
In part because of the time of year & day and in part because of the rain. Chambers creek was not a creek. It was a massive, extremely strong flowing river, more than waist deep. Every window in my car was shattered. The rear-view mirror was in my lap. The steering wheel was lodged into my leg...where it split my thigh muscle in half. I was covered in head to toe with glass. I looked at my friend Jen and she appeared unconscious and had blood dripping out of her mouth. ( I thought she was dead. Think of every scary movie you've ever seen when blood is coming out of the mouth! I was sure she was dead.) She also had a tire... yes a tire, wrapped around her head. I unbuckled her seat belt which had tightened so tight she couldn't move and with one arm (think adrenaline) I lifted the tire off of her head. I climbed out of my still buckled seat belt, kicked off my socks and shoes and climbed out my window... the current was so strong I couldn't open my door. And I began to climb. I remember yelling down to Jen, to just breathe and stay alive. I thought I had killed my friend. It was pitch black and I looked up at the sky and still raining. I could not get my bearings. I have never been so afraid in my LIFE. I didn't even know which side of the river I was on! I didn't know where the embankment was or how far we had fallen or if I could even make it to help. But I had to try.
I began the slippery climb straight up the side of the cliff. It was covered with tree vines and roots and sticker bushes. I grabbed on to them as much as I could and with my bare feet (mind you I was in a miniskirt and t-shirt) made it to the top. I was covered in Mud and scratches from the branches and sticker bushes. I had blood running down my arms and legs from glass and injuries. I began to scream and wave my arms at every car that drove by. NOBODY STOPPED!! I was crying so hard. I kept yelling to Jennifer... just breathe!! I was praying to God and thinking... "these cars must think I'm an escaped mental patient from Western State". Finally a TRUCKER (big rig) stopped and called 911 from his radio.
2 hook & ladder trucks, 5 police cars, an entire road closure and an ambulance... I sat on the cliff waiting for help. Just crying and calling out to Jennifer that everything would be okay. They had to use the hook & ladder x 2 to reach the back of my car and pulled her out on a stretcher THROUGH the back window.
I went into shock. I had lost a lot of blood...from my torn thigh & what I found out later was a cracked femur. They put me in the ambulance, and got me started on an IV etc... then a few moments later as I lay on the backboard staring into the mirror like roof of the ambulance, I saw them wheel in Jen. I started to cry and I just kept saying over and over.. I'm so sorry jen, I'm so sorry! She smiled at me through the reflection and said "Do you think Jason and Jack are going to be mad?" (our then-boyfriends, future husbands, were roommates at the time) I knew then, she was going to be okay and that she'd forgive me!!! Turned out the blood coming out of her mouth, was where her braces had cut her lips!
We were taken to St. Claire hospital and were met by our boyfriends and their families. There is a looonng story which I will not go into later about the adventures that night at the hospital but for now... there are several things I want to point out.
I believe we were miraculously saved. That is MY belief. The police report said it was "at least 115 feet" from the top to the bottom. My father went down the next day to retrieve some important things from the cliff-side, while it was daylight and NOT raining, he wore hiking boots and still managed to slip several times and cut his hand. He shook his head as he told me, he doesn't know how a little girl with no shoes in a miniskirt climbed up the cliff from the bottom in the dark and in the rain. I was told over the course of the next several days by the fire department that the gas tank had been knocked loose and fallen out at the TOP of the cliff. A full tank which if hit the wrong way may have ignited. We landed straight down onto a tree trunk. The river/current being what it was, I was told that if that tree trunk had not have been there we most assuredly would have tipped over onto the roof of the car, upside down and been swept away and drowned. Lastly, both Jen & I walked away with some MINOR injuries and were told we were lucky to be alive... I was able to walk immediately with a brace and ace wrap on my femur and she had a fairly substantial concussion as a result of the tire, but basically minor injuries.
But it took me nearly 5 months before I would get behind the wheel of a car again and 3 YEARS before I drove down Chambers Creek road. 3 whole years and even then, it was only after a mud slide had pretty much wiped it out and so they repaved it, widened it and put guard rails up!
I have driven on that road hundreds of times since then and while I do feel comfortable on it now, I had yet to actually peer down into the river .. for fear of remembering that fateful night and having flashbacks of rain pouring down on me, of not knowing which way was up or what side we were on, of feeling powerless by the trees and the current. Of the sound of metal crunching and glass shattering. But today... without planning it at all, I went to the creek. I sat in the spit. I watched my daughter play in the sand. I got a suntan. I looked at the trees and the top of the cliff. FROM THE BOTTOM OF IT Once again.... and I was NOT afraid. Thank you Jesus.
Be sure to read the comments below for Jen's version. ;)
I revisited an old enemy today. One that took many years to face and I finally conquered it. Take a journey with me if you will...
It was a dark & stormy night... no really it was. It was mid-may 1993. I was driving along chambers creek road in my little blue 1979 Honda Crcc hatchback with my friend Jennifer Lund. We were heading to my best friend Dena's house... the road at this time, was quite narrow, had no guard rails, barely paved and had gravel shoulders. Not a good combo for a night of "May Rain" and an old car with bad brakes.
Needless to say as I drove southwest down the slippery slope, with Chambers Creek on my left, my car began to fishtail. I did what I learned in Drivers Ed, but alas... my left my front tire was grabbed suddenly by the gravel and over the cliff we went.
We literally pin-balled through the trees (had a tree imprint on the roof of the car I saw later at the junkyard.) and landed nose down onto a log at the base of the cliff. As we flew threw the air and crashed into everything, I heard my friend Jennifer Screaming and I curled into as much of a ball as I could, covering my head & face with my arms. And I prayed.
In part because of the time of year & day and in part because of the rain. Chambers creek was not a creek. It was a massive, extremely strong flowing river, more than waist deep. Every window in my car was shattered. The rear-view mirror was in my lap. The steering wheel was lodged into my leg...where it split my thigh muscle in half. I was covered in head to toe with glass. I looked at my friend Jen and she appeared unconscious and had blood dripping out of her mouth. ( I thought she was dead. Think of every scary movie you've ever seen when blood is coming out of the mouth! I was sure she was dead.) She also had a tire... yes a tire, wrapped around her head. I unbuckled her seat belt which had tightened so tight she couldn't move and with one arm (think adrenaline) I lifted the tire off of her head. I climbed out of my still buckled seat belt, kicked off my socks and shoes and climbed out my window... the current was so strong I couldn't open my door. And I began to climb. I remember yelling down to Jen, to just breathe and stay alive. I thought I had killed my friend. It was pitch black and I looked up at the sky and still raining. I could not get my bearings. I have never been so afraid in my LIFE. I didn't even know which side of the river I was on! I didn't know where the embankment was or how far we had fallen or if I could even make it to help. But I had to try.
I began the slippery climb straight up the side of the cliff. It was covered with tree vines and roots and sticker bushes. I grabbed on to them as much as I could and with my bare feet (mind you I was in a miniskirt and t-shirt) made it to the top. I was covered in Mud and scratches from the branches and sticker bushes. I had blood running down my arms and legs from glass and injuries. I began to scream and wave my arms at every car that drove by. NOBODY STOPPED!! I was crying so hard. I kept yelling to Jennifer... just breathe!! I was praying to God and thinking... "these cars must think I'm an escaped mental patient from Western State". Finally a TRUCKER (big rig) stopped and called 911 from his radio.
2 hook & ladder trucks, 5 police cars, an entire road closure and an ambulance... I sat on the cliff waiting for help. Just crying and calling out to Jennifer that everything would be okay. They had to use the hook & ladder x 2 to reach the back of my car and pulled her out on a stretcher THROUGH the back window.
I went into shock. I had lost a lot of blood...from my torn thigh & what I found out later was a cracked femur. They put me in the ambulance, and got me started on an IV etc... then a few moments later as I lay on the backboard staring into the mirror like roof of the ambulance, I saw them wheel in Jen. I started to cry and I just kept saying over and over.. I'm so sorry jen, I'm so sorry! She smiled at me through the reflection and said "Do you think Jason and Jack are going to be mad?" (our then-boyfriends, future husbands, were roommates at the time) I knew then, she was going to be okay and that she'd forgive me!!! Turned out the blood coming out of her mouth, was where her braces had cut her lips!
We were taken to St. Claire hospital and were met by our boyfriends and their families. There is a looonng story which I will not go into later about the adventures that night at the hospital but for now... there are several things I want to point out.
I believe we were miraculously saved. That is MY belief. The police report said it was "at least 115 feet" from the top to the bottom. My father went down the next day to retrieve some important things from the cliff-side, while it was daylight and NOT raining, he wore hiking boots and still managed to slip several times and cut his hand. He shook his head as he told me, he doesn't know how a little girl with no shoes in a miniskirt climbed up the cliff from the bottom in the dark and in the rain. I was told over the course of the next several days by the fire department that the gas tank had been knocked loose and fallen out at the TOP of the cliff. A full tank which if hit the wrong way may have ignited. We landed straight down onto a tree trunk. The river/current being what it was, I was told that if that tree trunk had not have been there we most assuredly would have tipped over onto the roof of the car, upside down and been swept away and drowned. Lastly, both Jen & I walked away with some MINOR injuries and were told we were lucky to be alive... I was able to walk immediately with a brace and ace wrap on my femur and she had a fairly substantial concussion as a result of the tire, but basically minor injuries.
But it took me nearly 5 months before I would get behind the wheel of a car again and 3 YEARS before I drove down Chambers Creek road. 3 whole years and even then, it was only after a mud slide had pretty much wiped it out and so they repaved it, widened it and put guard rails up!
I have driven on that road hundreds of times since then and while I do feel comfortable on it now, I had yet to actually peer down into the river .. for fear of remembering that fateful night and having flashbacks of rain pouring down on me, of not knowing which way was up or what side we were on, of feeling powerless by the trees and the current. Of the sound of metal crunching and glass shattering. But today... without planning it at all, I went to the creek. I sat in the spit. I watched my daughter play in the sand. I got a suntan. I looked at the trees and the top of the cliff. FROM THE BOTTOM OF IT Once again.... and I was NOT afraid. Thank you Jesus.
Be sure to read the comments below for Jen's version. ;)
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