i have never been in a car accident that involved going more than 20 mph. sure, sliding into a snowdrift. yep, someone backed into me at 10 mph. getting stuck in some mud. hitting a quail and having to replace the front bumper (i still say that was nate). not big deals.

but when you live in the sticks and it’s seasonal change and it’s minnesota, i guess it’s no big surprise when you run into a deer going 60mph.

–i’m not hurt.—

i was cruising along on a road i’ve driven on hundreds of times before, just northwest of st. joe, on my way home. it was dusk – that weird time of day when you for sure need your headlights but they don’t do a lot quite yet.

then suddenly a big noise, i was pushed back and everything went dark, and i saw a flash of deer. it was so disorienting – i thought maybe i had gone blind or something had taken over my body, and it was super smelly. it was super duper weird, let me tell you, for about 2-3 seconds. then i realized i was still in my car and still in control of my car, but obvs something was wrong, and there was that deer hide i saw, so i started braking and pulled over. (someone was actually driving toward me at this time and saw what happened and did not stop. not cool. the next car that came up behind me did stop though.)

first, airbags are genius. my chest felt a little like the wind taken out of me, but not bad. and it clipped me on my lip so that was sting-y for about 10 minutes. but no neck stuff, no whiplash, no seatbelt marks. just a gross smell.

second, i think that “blackout” saved me from a lot more injury. after i put on my hazards, i realized that the hood of my car had flipped up. i tried kicking open the drivers door but it only opened about 10 inches. so i crawled out the passenger side, and hoo boy that hood was dented. flipped it down and the windshield was busted up right over where i was sitting. (all those years paying for windshield replacement insurance and never using it – my first thought was well, that’s covered?) the deer hit the front center and drivers front and then rolled up and over the drivers side windshield, even onto the roof a bit. imagine if that hadn’t flipped up! i don’t want to.

deer’s dead. good riddance.

but oh, my poor little nissan.

11 years of driving all over the state, around the midwest. 2 long periods of long commutes between rochester and st. cloud. hauling people and junk around. christmas trees stuffed in its trunk. camping gear shoved in the backseat for a summer. getting the chicakdee plates in 2012 to make it pretty. paddleboard sticking out its rear. driving down bumpy roads it shouldn’t be driving down. car towel to make sure the seat didn’t get too sweaty after driving to the trail for a run. moonroof cracked as the harbinger of spring. barely making it through snow. minimal maintenance needed on it (beyond regular maintenance). i am legitimately sad about my car’s current situation.

278,000 miles on it and we were waiting for it to hit 300k to give it a proper sendoff, all to be done in by a deer 🙁 🙁