Hitting a deer (zaibatsu), 05/30/2019
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It's not nice to hit, and it's even less nice to hit things
with your car. In spite of my upbringing and non-violent
nature, I managed to hit a deer with my car over the
weekend.
It was on Country Road F, between Fulton and Columbia, MO,
on a bright Sunday afternoon. I've been around deer long
enough, in Oregon and in Eastern Arizona, but I've never hit
one before. Generally I've been able to see them off to the
side, or in front of me, with enough time to slow down a bit
and avoid encounters. This time, the deer jumped right out
of the tall grass and trees (which grow right up to the road
in some spots, it feels like) and into my driver-side
headlight, with zero time to react. I saw it, but could do
nothing. I was going 50-60mph (speed limit on the road is
55mph), fast enough to hit the head of the deer and slam
it's body into my fender. I don't know how they do it, but
it managed to stumble off into the woods while I pulled into
the nearest driveway. No human was hurt; the deer, I'm
certain, has passed.
As for the damage, it is significant. Headlight assembly is
gone, grille is destroyed, hood is bent, fender is crumbled.
On our recent trip to AZ, our radiator cracked, and I got
ripped off by a mechanic shop to get it replaced in Oklahoma
City. Almost 1k USD. The deer punched right through the AC
condenser, and cracked the brand new radiator. If it had
known I just put a new radiator in, it might not have jumped
out in front of me.
I gotta give the old Cadillac credit though, it basically
smashed right through the deer without slowing down, and it
doesn't look half bad after the fact, all things considered.
It still runs and drives (though, without a radiator, it
won't make it far). I haven't decided whether or not I'll
repair the vehicle, but we're going to get something else
either way. I'll probably phlog about that more over on my
colorfield.space hole[1].
Life has been hectic the last few days, partly due to this
misadventure. In all sincerity, I'm just glad no one was
hurt. Cars, and other objects, matter very little to me.
People matter a great deal.
[1]
gopher://colorfield.space:70/1/~tfurrows
