Thankful
A few weeks ago we traveled to visit my parents.
My parents live in a beautiful rural area of Wisconsin. Their property is surrounded by State and County forest. It is a beautiful area for outdoor enthusiasts.
On our way home from our visit, we decided to take a gravel road to reach the highway.
This road is beautiful and a favorite of ours because the trees touch each other creating a leaf canopy. It is extra special in the Autumn when Wisconsin will show off her colors.
Some of you may know that Northern Wisconsin was hit by an awful flood in mid-July. The flood damaged several major Northern Wisconsin roads, ATV trails and communities.
With the closing of some ATV trails, ATV's are using the public roads and highways to get on to the next open trail.
This is when our drive home takes a much too exciting turn for me.
As we drove along the beautiful gravel road, two ATV's come around a corner, FAST!
In the middle of the road! My husband was driving, he quickly swerved close to the ditch. The first ATV driver did the same, but at his speed things did not go well for him.
His machine hit the ditch and that caused the young man to fly off the machine, hitting his stomach on the handle bars and ending up in the ditch.
His ATV continued to drive itself across the road into the woods.
We found out later, the two riders had radio headsets on, so the first driver was yelling out to the second driver that he was crashing. This gave the second driver time to slow down and move out of the middle of the road.
Now it is time to check on the injured ATV driver. Is he alive? Is he injured?
Please, please let him be fine.
He did not have a helmet on. He did not have protective clothing on.
As my husband walked over to him lying in the ditch, the young man got to his knees.
Thankful
The young man was out of breath. He was struggling to breath.
He was bleeding from the nose.
My husband helped him clean up his nose, check for other injuries and just make sure he was fine.
Thankful
It took some time for him to calm down and get his normal breathing back. Eventually he did. All the time he was blaming himself. He continued to say " I was going too fast, I was in the middle of the road, I was not thinking...."
We encouraged him to just breath. Just breath, relax and breath.
In time he felt ready to try and get his ATV.
With the help of my boys, husband and his friend, his ATV was pulled out of the woods.
It started and it did not seem to be damaged.
He was able to drive it.
Thankful
We had a two hour car ride to talk about what happened.
We had a two hour car ride to talk about what could have happened.
Thankful
 | |
| Our dog Molly was also in the vehicle when the accident happened. She was well behaved while we helped the young man. |
I believe in miracles.
This story gave me chills. So glad everyone was ok. It could have been so horrible! Those ATV's scare me!
ReplyDeleteHeather's comment took the words right out of my mouth. It gave me chills! To think how bad things could have turned out. Glad all of you were safe.
ReplyDeleteSo terrifying! I bet your heart is still racing. Thanking God that all ended well, this could have ended so badly. Hopefully, some good will come of this and the men will wear helmets and protective clothing.
ReplyDeleteThanking the Lord that each one of you are ok.
ReplyDeleteI am going to hook onto this comment. I am not sure where I go to make my own comment. I am so glad that everyone is ok! That could have had such a different outcome!
DeleteI'm so glad all of your family was ok, Carla. That must have been quite a scare for you. I believe you were being watched over that day. Thanks for sharing your story. It was a suspenseful one.
ReplyDelete~Sheri
also, I liked your story on my school days post. I bet you still think about your teacher to this day. :) I hope Jess learns to be as good a teacher as her.
I know this must have been terribly frightening for all of you, Carla. I'm so grateful these people were fine. Safety is of the utmost importance when using anything like this this on roads, including snowmobiles. We all are familiar with this in rural areas. How do you feel in this regard? Not sure if you participate and I don't want to sound like I pass judgment. We just see so many accidents in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteHugs to you and glad you are all safe and sound!
Jane
This is so powerful Carla, thank you for sharing! Thank goodness everybody was okay but what a scary thing to happen. I believe in miracles too, I think we all should! 💓
ReplyDeleteOh my Carla what a story, I am so glad everyone was okay. That was and eye opener for that young man but also fro your boys. Thank goodness it all ended up with no serious injuries or a death.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Meredith
Scary. I am glad to hear that everyone was ok. Your kindness was really wonderful and I am sure it meant a lot to the hurting and scared young man and to his parents, to have someone so caring there, to help their child. I think it will serve as a powerful safety lesson moving forward. It only takes a minute for things to go terribly wrong.
ReplyDeleteOh Carla how frightening. Just shows how life can change course in a minute.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear everyone was ok.
Kris
Goodness, so frightening.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that everyone was ok.
All the best Jan
Wow. Scary. Glad it turned out ok and that your husband had such speedy reflexes.
ReplyDeleteCliff has been spending a lot of time up in Northern Wisconsin moving equipment for road repairs up there. I will have to make sure he knows ATV's are using regular roads.
Today and tomorrow he is hauling to Mellen. Is that near your parents?
Yes Carla I absolutely believe in miracles. Thank goodness this story ended well, although I can only imagine how stunned you must have been afterwards...having a brush with death is such a jolt the senses, -thankfully your husband had all the right instincts at the right second. I'm so relieved that you all were Ok.
ReplyDeleteWow. What an experience. I'm so glad that everyone was ok.
ReplyDelete