I am all ready for the snow. Well, not really. I am hoping it will hold off for a couple more months. However, my van is sporting new tires, so in that sense I am ready.
My van is nine years old. I don’t believe I ever owned a vehicle that long. I purchased the van because of wanting to take grandkids on little trips. We went to Wisconsin Dells, only once, but it was a trip to remember. There were other trips to Green Bay and several to the movies.
However, now I only have three grandkids left in high school, and they are busy with other things. Those grandma trips have been curtailed, so I feel I don’t need a van any longer. But, now that it is this age, with this much mileage on it, I doubt I would get anything much to sell it, so I decided to drive it until it quit.
My only fear is what if I hit a deer, or have some other accident? What if the van is totaled? Then I will have new tires but no vehicle. Much to my amusement, the day after the tires were put on, a stone hit my windshield, and now I have a 6-inch crack. At this point it isn’t serious, but it did seem kind of funny.
I guess with much of life, we make decisions, and hope they are the right ones. But the right or wrongness won’t be shown until time passes. Basically I have to trust that the deer will stay clear of me, and I will stay clear of them.
In all my years of driving, much of it in deer country of western Shawano County, I have only hit three deer. I have had many other “whisker” close calls, that only the speed of the deer and the stomp of my brakes avoided.
The first deer I hit was more of a glancing blow. It ran into and bounced off of my front fender and kept running. The second one was not so lucky. It was a buck in the rut, and it ran right into the back of my car. Again it seemed to bounce off and be OK, but my farmer husband found it dead in the field nearby.
The third deer was most memorable. It was late in the day in January, and the precipitation was sleet, and the roads were icy. Normally I would not venture out on such a day, but since it was my grandson’s birthday party, with a great deal of trepidation I proceeded on the journey.
I made it over the hills near our farm, even made it over the hills by Pella and Caroline. But as I was on the flat part of County Road M, near the intersection with Highway 45, a deer came skidding out of the ditch into my path. I was creeping along at a snail’s pace, but due to the road condition, I knew I could not hit the brakes or I would be in the ditch.
Instead I hit the deer with the front of the car, and it seemed to go under the car. I thought about stopping but kept on going. No deer was laying on the road behind me, so I hoped that as slow as I was going it didn’t get hurt too badly.
For now I hope all deer and other road hazards stay away. While I can’t say I always drive perfectly, I would say I am a cautious driver. If I see a deer, I slow way down, because if there is one, there are usually more.
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