Not the best vacation I've ever had: Trailer Hitch 1, Toyota 0

Ned Bulken

Member
Messages
5,529
Location
Lakeport NY and/or the nearest hotel
Just got back from visiting my parents for a couple of days. They're fine, I'm just as determined as ever to move down to Bridgewater, with the intent to go help them out as much as I can.

The Major Incident of the trip was en route from NY to VA. My wife and I were in the Buick with our youngest son, the older two boys were a few miles behind us, James was driving his 97 Corolla through the Harrisburg PA area on I-81. We all ran into some heavy traffic near the i-83 junction, traffic slowed, and unfortunately James didn't...

he rear ended a Nissan Armada, removing a bit of paint from the trailer hitch on the Armada. His toyota didn't fare nearly as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRWptyEBdRE

That link is for a short cell phone videio he took and posted on You-tube.

Minor injuries, James' knee was a bit sore, and Adam's shoulder as well from the impact, but noone in the other vehicle was hurt at all.

Naturally we had all of our pets with us, and enough stuff to 'fill' both vehicles (clothes, quilts, games etc...). We wound up pulling 99% of the stuff from the toyota out while it sat in the median when the tow truck showed up, shoving all of the things from that car into our rendesvous, along with the two young men... and finishing the rest of the trip down to Bridgewater without further incident.

Yesterday was the return trip... and other than one really expensive gallon of gas (delivered to a rest area by a tow company :rolleyes:) that trip went without incident. We had to stop and get the plates and the last 1% of stuff from the toyota, as we expect it to be totalled given the age and book value on it. This leaves us with one vehicle and 4 drivers... Luckily I have my work van, so that will cut down on the demands for the Buick, but we're going to be shopping for a replacement 2nd vehicle in the next few weeks. I've set my father to looking for a budget car down in VA already, just in case.

Luckily my parents had a car topper in the basement of my grandfather's house, which we pressed into service. The Buick was only slightly less cramped on the way north, but it was still a Long drive with 5 of us shoe horned into it, plus our two dogs and cats.

On our way by Syracuse, we spotted a helicopter with a spotlight searching the ground on the south side (rougher section) of the city, we presumed (correctly) that they were looking for a vehicle or were in pursuit. Sure enough, we saw several police in the median, and when we got home, the news reported that the highway was shut down due to a police chase. I haven't checked the news yet to see who it was they were chasing, hopefully they got their man.
 
Last edited:
That is one area I drive very defensively. Looks like your son is picking up some valuable driving lessons. Glad to hear everyone is OK.
Dave,
I get into that sort of traffic, I 'creep', leaving lots of stopping room ahead of me.
I can only Hope that he did learn from it. I know my middle son who is newly licensed, got something out of it.

Glad no one was hurt.

That's one reason why I used grade 8 bolts in my hitches. First line of defense, from a rear impact.
+1 on the grade 8's. When i get another pickup, I'll likely upgrade with a trailer hitch as well (my dad has a sweet utility trailer I plan on borrowing).

Glad everyone walked away safe and without any major injuries.


Relatively safe and sound, just ego bruised on losing the car. Mixed blessing on that front, he was very attached to it, but needed help on fuel & Maintenance. If we replace it, I'm going to make it very clear that it will be the family's vehicle unless he somehow ponies up for the replacement without our help.

Ultimately, the family is fine, the vehicle not so much, and I'm thankful for the family part, will cope with the latter.
 
Top