Scariest Moment In Your Life? (And if applicable, how did it resolve itself?)

I've told the story here before. I was driving on one of the many remote parts of the Pennsylvania Turnpike with my daughter, who was seven at the time, when my car caught on fire. Trouble was, I didn't know it was on fire at first. Just that it had lost power, then the brakes.

I managed to get the car to stop with the emergency break. Still not knowing what was going on, I got my daughter out of the car anyway, putting her on the other side of the guard rail, as I called 911. It wasn't until I opened the trunk to grab something that I got a face full of truly foul smoke that I realized the damn thing was on fire. I got my daughter and myself as far away from the car as possible, leaving a good portion of our stuff in the vehicle (the part she was most upset about).

Around that time, an elderly couple in a camper pulled over. The man helped me with what possessions we had gotten out of the car and the four of us watched the car burn up from inside the camper. To her credit, my daughter was damn brave about the whole thing, only crying when she realized what possessions had burned up with the car. A state trooper got there pretty quickly, but it was at least 20 minutes before any firefighters arrived.

I'm still not sure which part scared me more, the moment I realized my breaks were gone or the time we spent watching the car we had just been driving home in fully engulfed in flames.

 

When my wife walked out of the bathroom with a positive pregnancy test.

How'd it turn out? Child turns 16 this week. Almost ready to get driver's license. More white-knuckling awaits.

That, and being in the back seat of a Pinto that blew a tire and came to rest directly across the passing lane of the NYS Thruway. Luckily there was no one behind us and the driver got the car safely to the shoulder.

 

I'm an avid morning walker, never miss a day unless I have an early-morning work assignment (I don't generally start work until 10 a.m.). I walk a 3-mile route down by the beach, which is about two blocks from my apartment.

About two years ago, I was walking along in the bike lane next to the sea wall with my headphones on, when I felt a WHOOOSH! come up from behind and past me. It was a tractor-trailer truck delivering frozen food to the local Chevron refinery, and it passed within two feet of me going about 45 miles per hour.

The truck went on and crashed into the barricades on a sharp curve about a quarter-mile ahead and came to a stop in a vacant lot. The driver suffered minor injuries and was rushed to the hospital.

He later claimed he had a seizure, but I think he was just lost and didn't see the curve. The refinery is actually not accessible from the beach road, but if you look from a distance (and don't notice the curve) it looks like it will take you directly there.

As for why he was speeding down a residential street, that's an unanswered question. But if he veers two feet to the right, I'm a grease spot.

 

In college, my friends and I took a quick trip an hour north from Michigan State to Central Michigan. We ended up hitting the casino and stayed for longer than we should have. Driving home at 3 a.m. was a terrible idea, but we were awake and sober.

About 10 minutes before home, I noticed a pickup truck in the right with its hazards on. Slowed down, checked the mirrors and surroundings and merged into the left lane. All I saw was a giant deer on the asphalt taking up the entire lane. It must have gotten hit and wandered forward before choosing the worst resting place.

Slammed on the brakes and veered (although I shouldn't have). Driver's side tires caught the gravel on the left side of the road and sent the car into a spin. We did about three 360's and the whole time I was pushed up against the door of the car and clinging to the steering wheel. I was waiting to hit a guard rail, another car, or run off the road.

Somehow, the car came to rest back on the freeway without hitting a thing. Except we were now facing the wrong way and a semi-truck was driving towards us. I popped the car in reverse and floored it like I was in a chase scene in a movie. Cut the wheel and flipped us back in the right direction before spinning the tires again and taking off.

This all happened in about 10 seconds. No one said a word on the entire ride home. Friends contend I saved their lives that night, but I'm not sure. I don't know how much damage the deer would have done to us or the car. But we were going so fast, it wasn't something I wanted to risk. Looking back, maybe I should have swerved back into my original lane, but I didn't have time to think about it in the moment.

 

This one made me claustrophobic just reading it.

 

Outing alert: Rusty Shackleford is Ernest Hemingway.

 

I've been in concerts that have had moments like that, but never anything that big and for that long a time. Crazy.

 

When my previous dog attacked my then-1-year-old son. Nothing else comes close. (He's fine and loves our new dog to pieces. The old dog is living with a family friend.)

 

Last Saturday, when U.Va. and Virginia Tech were tied at 6. Thankfully, VT ended up scoring the final 10 points of the game. Whew!

 

I call bullshit. At no point in that game were the Wahoos remotely threatening, including at 6-6.

On a related note, Alec Vozenilek really should have been on an all-ACC team.

 

Can't pick one, so I'll describe two.

I was riding my bike down a curvy mountain road. First time on the road with this bike; I'd been down the same route on a mountain bike with knobby tires before, but the new was a crossover bike with road tires on it. Went into a sharp curve, lost control and went airborne. Landed on my face, halfway between a fire hydrant and a culvert. Easily could have died. Tried to stand up and walk, made it two steps before my back gave out. A car came buy a minute or so later, saw me and called an ambulance. First and only ambulance ride. I thought I'd broken my back; turned out to be strained muscles.

Other one was when a state patrolman aimed his firearm at me because in his estimation I didn't pull over fast enough. Put me in handcuffs, stowed me in the back of his car and called for sheriff's deputies, who I'm pretty sure talked him out of taking me to jail.

 

Scariest one for me was about 15 years ago. Driving on a rural highway in my small S10 pickup. One lane each way. Going through a curve to the left and a Camaro or some other type of fake muscle car was coing the other way. Way too fast. I was tired as hell, and both sisters were in the front cab with me (which was quite cramped and it had a stick shift) and my brother in law was lying down in the bed of the truck. I see the car coming right at me at about 90 mph, and just slowly hit the brakes and veered onto the shoulder. I have no idea how I remained so calm, and it was quite a bumpy ride for the BIL, who never saw it coming, but after the fact I was shaking like hell. To this day I still think of that moment when I think about how fragile life is and it only takes one idiot to end it. Could have killed all three of us siblings and my brother in law in one shot. Scary.

Have been in two other crashes and the car was totaled each time. In both of those cases I was as calm as could be and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Was pretty shaken up after both, but it still amazes me how the body and mind react to something like that.