Home again

I'm back.

I had another long drive yesterday from Indiana to central Pennsylvania. The weather was beautiful; clear blue sky for as far as one could see and a comfortable 65 to 70° F. The trip was pretty much uneventful for nearly 600 miles until I got about 30 miles from home.

It was about 9:30pm and I had to decide whether to go over the mountains or through the valley. The mountain route is bit shorter but the road winds and you go through a bunch of small towns so I chose to go through the valley. The road is as straight as any road in this state and runs though a state forest and Amish farmland. I had gone through the only town on the route and the speed limit went back up to 55 mph. I was cruising along closer to 60 and I came over a small hill and noticed that something did not look right up ahead. The double yellow line in the middle of the road seemed to have a gap in it. I slowed down and before I knew it I came face to face with a black horse standing in the middle of the road. I swerved around it and then I saw a car in a ditch to my right. I stopped my car, flashed my headlights at an oncoming vehicle to warn him and then got out to help.

As I went towards the car an Amish farmer met me and asked if I could call 911. He was about half a foot shorter than me. The old farmer wore grey beard, black pants and vest, a straw hat and he spoke with a Pennsylvania Dutch accent. He told me the address for the 911 operator and said that there were two people hurt and one trapped in the car. I relayed the information to the operator, she took my cell phone number and said that that help was on the way.

Apparently there were three horses tied to fence near the house and they got loose and wandered onto the road. The other car hit two of them. One was on its side a few feet from the crumpled car. One of the Amish boys was talking to it in Pennsylvania Dutch and he kept patting and stroking the horse.

There were about six or seven of the Amish boys already on the scene. two or three were assisting the people in the car, two were tending to the injured horses and two were trying to get the other horse off of the road. I don't know what I would have done had I come upon the scene and was the first one there. I did not know exactly where I was and I am not very good with blood; and there was a lot of it. The woman in the car was covered in blood but she was alert and asked for a blanket, which one of the boys went to get.

The EMTs and fireman got there in about five minutes and took over. I got back in my car, a bit shaken, and made my way home.