Near Death Experience...

Well sort of...

Today I decided to take the kids up to TI to visit the Renegades and watch their final run-through of the camp. The drive up was great, with the exception of the wait at the toll plaza... where Bailey decided she wanted to wake up and cry non-stop the entire time we were at the stop and go parking lot awaiting to pay the toll. Once we got on the foot of the bridge though, we're nice and calm. Go figure.

On the way back with Chris in the car was a different story. It was like there's a full moon out tonight and all the wackos are out.

We got on the bridge east bound heading home on 80. As we approach the bottom of the bridge and the lanes get wider I noticed in my rear view mirror this car weaving in and out of traffic. Granted, traffic wasn't heavy at all but we were all increasing in speed since we're on solid ground now. I'm in the second lane from the right, there was no one next to me so I started to scoot over to the far right so that I'm away from this guy.

As he got closer to my rear end, I noticed that one of his right tires is leaning at a 45 degree angle and the car is leaning to the right as he approaches my car. He weaved just far enough that he didn't touch us but close enough to scare me. I didn't really know how to react initially, never been in that situation really. A second later a CHP followed.

The CHP was chasing this car with the jacked up wheel!

The funny part is that he's not going that fast. Probably just 10 MPH over our speed, which was only about 55 since I slowed down to get away from him and he scared me. Most people on the road had the same reaction.

From this moment on, it was surreal. I thought I was on one of those police chase videos I see on TV. The guy momentarily lost control of his car and skidded across 4 lanes of traffic forcing 3 cars to step on their brakes. Most of us further away saw it coming and slowed down to be far behind. It was like slow motion.

The Lexus SUV in the far left lane was the unfortunate vehicle in this incident. They didn't see it coming at all. The driver stepped on her breaks and fishtailed out of control into the center divider. The truck rolled 2-3 times crashing into the sign and finally landed on its 4 wheels in the median.

The car that caused this accident then lost its jacked up tire, but the driver managed to get it facing the right way and kept on driving. The CHP is still chasing this guy 2 lanes away at the same speed.

His lost tire rolled across 5 lanes into our exit... then at the shoulder it turned around and rolled back onto the freeway. I slowed down and let it pass.

My heart is beating 100 miles an hour at this point. I don't want to look back but I wanted to. Those poor people in the SUV! There were people pulled over to help them out. That and this happened only a few feet from the toll plaza on the other side.

Later as we drove half way home I realized that at the moment that accident happened, I wasn't looking where I was going at all. If anyone or anything was in front of me, I think I would have hit it. It's a really good thing Chris was in the car with me because he really helped calm me down because he's such a mellow soul. Eventhough I know he was also scared to death too.

And then around San Leandro traffic slowed down to 30 mph when we saw why cars were weaving out of the far left lane. There were 4 dining room chairs scattered about on the freeway. About a half mile later, a tiny pick up truck with the rest of the furniture is backing up on the shoulder. He must really want his furniture. First off, he caused a major traffic jam. Secondly, backing up or driving on the shoulder is illegal, I think. Third, how the hell is he going to get his chairs back? They are in the far left lane!

Oy!

Must have been a full moon I say.