2001: A Honda Odyssey

OK, everybody's interested in destruction, so here's the full story:

It's been a long day; after five hours of sleep, I attended the plenary session and awards ceremonies. Then I visited my aunt and cousins out in NW, and picked up my parents' 2001 Honda Odyssey, which I had parked there for the week. I returned to the Capital Hilton hotel, picked up my bags, as well as my friends Josh, Alejandra, and Jawad, and pulled out by 3:15. They drifted off to sleep one by one; Alejandra was slumbering shotgun before we left the Beltway, while Josh stayed awake until after the Delaware Memorial Bridge. When we reached the heavy traffic outside New York, they had all begun to wake up as the ride became less smooth. It's now about 7:15pm. I check the odometer; we'd gone 193 miles, I believe, since I reset it at the outrageously priced gas station on Georgia Ave near the Beltway. I also notice that with just 8,500 miles on it, our trip, when complete would represent a tenth of the car's total miles, a fact that I shared with my friends. I put my conversation with Ale on pause as the traffic gets gnarly a mile before Exit 10. A white car wants to merge from the left shoulder, and starts to move a bit aggressively towards my left lane. However, I'm going fast enough that it's a lot easier just to blow by at 25 or 30 mph, so I do that. A moment later, the traffic snags again, and I have to slow down. Surprisingly, as I'm about to resume speed, I see that the white car has pulled even with me and is going to merge in front of me whether I like it or not. So, what's the point of arguing? I don't want to be in front of an aggressive driver. Tap the brakes... resume speed... I'm accelerating behind the white car... the white car is braking fast, my foot jumps to the brake, goes down hard. I'm not going to hit them, I braked in time. Woah, they're still stopping; that's not a pause it's a full stop. Braking isn't enough! We're going to hit them! Crunch. The cars have become entangled, and I can see immediately that my friends are alright, but that we won't be going anywhere in this car tonight. I don't know whose car is steaming, they're so close together, or maybe it's just my imagination. Anyway, there are 4 or 5 cars stopped; they had stopped so close together that my hitting the rear car sent a shock through 2 more, I think. The phone's right beside me, but I'm too shaken to use it for a few minutes. My mind and emotions are running in overdrive, and I know that my friends are OK, and they're comforting me, and I'm OK. I know that the car is hurting and that I just crashed my parent's brand-spanking-new Honda, and they're already in a tight cash situation what with buying a new house. I surprise myself by not crying, or perhaps being unable to. Eventually I get out of the car, try to talk to the people in front of us, who I see calling the police. I call my home, and my father picks up, thankfully. "I'm not hurt, but...". As far as I know, that's the best way to begin these kind of conversations. And yes, I admit I've rehearsed it.

Anyway, the rest is history. We checked the damage, disengaged with the white car, which was a rental full of Puerto Ricans. We exchanged info with them, and with the car in front of them later on, though the latter were uncooperative in the extreme. The cop who showed up some 15 or 20 minutes after the incident was a jerk too, and made up for what he lacked in helpfulness in rudeness, to twist a phrase. We were planning to drive away to the nearest garage, but Josh's diagnose of a cracked radiator, made with the help of the towing truck guy's flashlight, discouraged us from that course of action. Instead we asked to be towed, which we were while still in the car. The ride was brutal, and my friends, who know more about cars than I, were swearing at the driver for his carelessness every time our car jolted on it's jaunty angle. We were dropped with our luggage but minus the car at a strip mall, where we first shared two pizzas, and then moved to Dunkin Donuts at closing time. My father, who volunteered to drive down and pick us up, was there by 12:15, and drove us all the way home as well. We got back at 5EST/6EDT, and I slept until 4:30 EDT!

And that's all I have to say about that.