Off-roading Garling Style Part 2: Messing with a Texan

I don't know a woman on this planet who hasn't at some point just sat down and cried her eyes out.  I certainly wanted to do that right then, but with Vern under medical attention by an Army medic who came to the scene and the kids looking a bit panicked (even with Denny back), it was not the time.

"Does everybody have a pair of shoes on?"  I asked the kids calmly, glancing to be sure Vern had his boots on.  They all did.  Woops.  Not me though.  I had been walking on a sea of glass at the wreckage in bare feet.  Some stranger found my flip flops inside the truck and dug them out for me.

"Does someone have a veterinarian around here that can check Denny out while we are at the hospital?"  My new friend, Stephanie, who saw us barrel roll through the ditch volunteered to take Denny to see her vet, who was just two exits up the road from there.  We exchanged phone numbers, and then off he went with Stephanie.

I asked Vern what had happened, and he said that a semi truck hauling a John Deere tractor (did it have to be a John Deere?!!!) tried to pass us and the blades of the tractor hit the back of the camper.  I went to take a picture of the back of the camper (my Nikon D5100 was still working fine) and sure enough.  There was John Deere green slapped onto the back of the camper right down the center.  He had clearly been going too fast (we were doing 65 and he tried to pass us), and too close (since the tractor he was carrying pegged the camper right in the center).

Someone was putting essentials in a pile for me.  Guns, wallets, phones.  Someone else was moving the propane tanks a safe distance from the wreck.  One man came up to me and handed me $200 and asked if he could pray with me for our family.  I did so gladly.  Another woman came up to me and assured me that Vern's head was nasty, but OK (she was an Army nurse), and asked to pray with me for our family.  I got the Guthrie firefighters digging through the camper wreckage to find my medicine box.  I would need that in the morning.

And then the truck driver who had rear-ended us showed up.  He had stopped his unharmed semi truck about 3/4 mile down the road and had walked back up with the guy he was traveling with. 

I can't tell you that the trucker came on the scene with his cowboy hat in hand asking if we were all OK and how sorry he was.  No, he took a different road altogether.  That trucker got into Vern's personal space and screamed at Vern that the whole thing was Vern's fault.  So there's Vern, his head and shoulders soaked in blood, his wife and three young kids badly shaken nearby, his beloved truck totaled and his camper reduced to toothpicks.  I could almost hear Vern's teeth grinding and his hackles coming up.

And at that moment, my husband could've taken the road that most people would expect him to take.  The road any man who dedicates his life to protecting his family would have been justified to take.  Instead, he went off-roading and with his best Texas manners, growled like the tiger he is at the trucker to leave or else he would find himself on the ground.

One of the guys at the scene said, "He sure is capable of doing it, too, Buddy.  You better go." And then the firefighters and the military guys and the sheriff were shooing the trucker away while the big bad tiger held a blue and white striped towel to his still bleeding head.

"Mom, doesn't that man care that he hurt us?"  my little Isaac asked me, wailing with disbelief.

"No Baby, he's not thinking straight.  Your dad knows that.  But look at all these people who don't even know us that are helping us." He nodded in understanding as I gazed at the tiger I had married 13 years ago in complete amazement.

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.  Proverbs 29:11

Part 3 to follow at a later date as this is plenty to absorb for one post.  Thanks to each of you for allowing me to use these blog posts as a means to process what we went through.  Knowing that so many are reading them has really helped me deal with it all.  Many thanks!

Let me add though, that if you do not know Jesus as your savior, I suggest you seek Him out.  You just never know when your time is up on this earth.

Website for views of the wreck that made the news:
http://kfor.com/2014/07/11/traffic-alert-emergency-crews-on-scene-of-rv-accident-on-i-35/