Archive for the ‘Stories’ Category
The rock that hit our car
Monday, May 24th, 2010Part I
On May 8th, my mom and I headed to Battle Creek to visit Grandma Sailor. My mom was driving her Ford Taurus and I was riding shotgun and we were just heading out of Lansing heading west on I-496.
Just before driving under Grand Ave. I noticed three teenagers underneath the overpass and thinking they shouldn’t be there and wondering what the punks were up to. They must have been 12 or 13.
Just as I noticed them there was a tremendous bang and clunking noise.
My mom didn’t see the kids, but told me she saw something come flying out of the air out of nowhere, and said it was a large rock the size of her hand. I didn’t see it, but I knew the kids must have thrown it. If we weren’t on the freeway I was ready to have my mom stop and ready to chase them down.
The rock fell just in front of the car and bounced up underneath the car. It sounded terrible I thought surely something must be broken, but everything appeared fine.
My mom was confused to where it came from, having not seen the kids. I called 911 immediately and reported them to the police and we drove on.
I was seriously bothered by it having heard terrible stories of a**holes throwing things over overpasses before and hitting cars, and we were lucky it didn’t go through the windshield.
My frustration passed and I didn’t think about it. A couple days later my mom drove back home to Baraga.
Part II
Last week I was walking downtown Lansing with some friends and we were right next to I-496 and one bridge away from where this whole thing happened. So I told Khalid and some others about the rock that hit our car.
I noticed I missed a phone call while I was telling this story and it was my mom who had been trying to get a hold of me for a couple days, saying she had an amazing story.
I got my mom on the phone and she said that she had just brought her Taurus to the shop to get the brakes checked out. When my dad went to pick up the car he noticed a big rock sitting on the service counter and proceeded to ask the service manager what the rock was all about.
The service managed responded “We found this rock lodged under your car.”
The rock that the kids through bounced off the pavement, up under my mom’s car, breaking the inside of the grill, and sat in the same spot for another 600+ miles of driving.
When the whole incident happened I was wondering if my mom was exaggerating the size of the rock, saying it was the size of her fist. Then she sent me the photos of my dad holding the very rock that hit us (below).
We were indeed lucky the rock didn’t go through our windshield. My mom decided she would keep it.
It was sure strange that she happened to tell me all of this when it was the only time I’d ever walked down there, and I had just told my friends about the story.
Illustration
Here’s an illustration showing the Google Streetview of our location and the rock that was found inside the car at the garage.
Click the graphic below for a larger version.
Hometown Invasion Tour stats
Friday, July 31st, 2009
These were compiled oh so long ago and never really got posted anywhere. So here you go, a list of statistics from my Hometown Invasion Tour. What a year it was. If you think of any other stats you’d like to know, just ask.
Oh… and if you don’t know what this is all about… From Sep 8, 2006 to Sep 17, 2007 my friend Rice (the first squirrel to go to all 50 states) and I traveled 29,403 miles as we made our way to all 50 states in the nation staying in over 100 U.S. households.
Traveling Stats
29,403 miles of driving*
$3,294.54 of gas
1251 gallons of gas
599 miles longest drive
141 gas stations
~30 days driving time
23.5 miles per gallon
$2.634 average cost per gallon
$3.39 most expensive gas
$2.07 cheapest gas
3 round trip plane rides
1 car ferry
Host Stats
320 hosts
294 strangers
113 households
104 towns
130 beds
3 dorms
3 trailers
1 pool house
1 record store
21 couches
11 air mattresses
9 sleeper sofas
4 campers
1 water bed
Content Stats
11,334 photos
2364 photos posted
410+ blog entries
235 nominated hosts
137 town profiles
Press Stats
30+ newspaper articles
12 radio stations
9 television stations
3 magazine features
1 national TV talk show
*There were probably another few thousand miles or more of additional driving where I was the passenger
When cars collide
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
On Thursday I was involved in my first car accident (while I was the driver that is). I will no longer be able to boast that I’ve never been in one. I used to pride myself on that, not even as much as a little fender bender before Thursday.
My nephew Sloane was with me. I had just gotten back from taking photos at the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek and picked up 9-year old Sloane to take back to the Upper Peninsula with me so he could stay with my parents for a week.
I was leaving work from Seymour Street in Lansing and drove 1.3 miles. After the construction zone I had merged all the way into the left lane on Saginaw (a 4-lane one-way street) headed eastbound. I was ready to start the 400 mile trip to Marquette.
A white two-door car was in front of me on the lane to my direct right. Out of the blue he tried to cut over two lanes at once, as he tried to make a left hand turn at Mahlon Street. Cutting over two lanes at once he never looked and the front right corner of my 1998 Escort Wagon went square into his driver’s door.
I was driving about 40 mph.
My car stopped in the middle of Mahlon Street. His car shot up onto the sidewalk.
I’m proud of my instinct. First I made sure to see that Sloane was okay and started dialing 911 immediately. He was fine. I was fine. They had to remove that door of the other guys car to get him out and hauled him to the hospital. My guess would be a couple broken ribs at worst.
My only concern was Sloane. I was terribly frustrated not because of the accident, but because Sloane was in my car. The last time I had a kid in my car while I was driving was probably three years ago. So why does my first accident have to happen when I finally have a child in my car? Big props to Sloane for staying so calm and patient. He’s a trooper, not to mention an 8 hour drive back to the Upper Peninsula following it. Hopefully he wasn’t too terrified and hopefully his mother won’t hate me too much.
After seeing the damage on the other guy’s car I was scared to look behind me at my own car. I couldn’t believe what I saw, how minimal the damage was. No extra squeaks, rattles, or anything. Only aesthetics. The only minor thing was being able to open the hood, but that was taken care of at home.
Well, car accidents happen. I hope the other guy is alright too. Thankfully I’m a very calm guy and keep my cool. Was mostly frustrating just because I was starting a 400-mile trek to the U.P. But I still made it.
Quite the week it was.
Four red dots
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Imagine four little red dots on a map. One pair of the red dots work together as of a week ago. The other pair of red dots have been working together for a few years. The older red dots with more gray hair have both been incredibly influential and instrumental in the success and drive of each of the younger red dots.
These four dots have never all been together before. A month ago these four little red dots tried to all come together, but one of the red dots (I won’t say who) decided to go on a date instead (a date that was not worthwhile).
The two younger red dots were unsure if they wanted to attend a networking event this one particular night, but they decided it was for the best. After the two red dots enjoyed a couple beverages they agreed it was time to go.
One red dot spotted one of the gray-haired red dots. That old dot was shaking hands with the other old dot. A quick u-turn was taken (it’s beyond me that at this incredibly busy intersection there was actually no car coming the other way). These four dots, bonded by creativity, all came together and crossed the exact same point on earth within a matter of seconds.
Coincidences happen all of the time. Especially small world run-ins with say two people. But with four? I have never ran into the gray haired dots in public. Tonight I ran into both of them, two of the most influential people in my life. It was a situation where at least this young red dot acknowledged that something like this has never happened to him before. Both young red dots will be going to bed ecstatic and excited. There was a grand amount of amusement.
Bonding Five Seconds at a Time
It is my strong belief that some of the greatest bonds between people in life are built five seconds at a time. When people have a mutual respect and look forward to seeing this other person, that’s all the time it takes.
Having a mere 5-second random walk by with is enough to elicit smiles, enjoyment, and a feeling of joy because you ran into someone you truly admire and respect.
From my opinion, I say that these little 5-second moments build and build and build on each other. This entire encounter that the other young red dot and I had lasted only a couple of minutes (there was a high-speed pursuit that followed). But the enjoyment of those two minutes grew more on to the relationship between the four of us. And it all started with a 5-second decision between the time we say the first gray-haired dot to the decision of making a u-turn.
From the standpoint of networking, business development, and relationships of all sorts there is a priceless value to it. I’m happy with the social life I’ve found in the last week. If I wasn’t out and about, if I wasn’t pro-active, of if I was a hermit none of this would have happened.
I’ll never forget it. These are four very specific red dots and a few seconds is all that was needed for them to finally all be in the same spot.
P.S. Is it a requirement that Yoopers must always know where to find a barrel of hay?
Crime scene
Monday, April 27th, 2009
Photo by EssG on Flickr
It’s not often I find myself talking about violence. But tonight I was given the answer of something I have been wondering for a very, very long time in my life. I will never have to wonder about it ever again.
For as long as I can remember I have had this “memory”. It is from when I was a very young boy, maybe 6 years old or so. I believe my family was at a Pizza Hut together in or near Battle Creek, Michigan where we were visiting my Grandma Sailor. The only visual I have from this so-called memory was a crime scene in the parking lot, where there was yellow tape and a body. Quite a terrifying thing really.
But I never knew. For about 20 years or more that vision came to my head once in a great while and I didn’t know if that was something I actually saw, a memory I construed, or perhaps something I developed and remembered seeing in a dream or movie once.
For some reason I never wanted to ask my parents. I felt they’d think I was crazy (which is partially true). All I ever wanted to know if it was true or something I made up in my mind.
Well tonight, my parents drove through town and stopped in for a few minutes. They were in Battle Creek over the weekend visiting my grandmother. While there, they actually heard gunshots fired late at night on the block of my grandmother’s house.
And then…
My mom said, “When you were younger there was a time we had to shield you and your brother’s eyes from a crime scene in Battle Creek so you didn’t see the dead body.”
I KNEW IT! It wasn’t just my imagination. It was true! I can finally put to rest a thought that has plagued me for two decades. Now I can move on to the next unsure memory.