Has Anybody Seen My Duct Tape?

Once again, in my "never a dull moment" life, my daughter continues to keep things interesting and this time terrifying! She had quite the ride Tuesday morning, but it had nothing to do with a horse!

As many of you know, Kate spent the weekend in Southern California competing in a horse show. She and her team flew back to Montana late Sunday night and didn't arrive back in Missoula until after 2am. Monday morning she was planning to drive home for the week for spring break.

Given her late arrival, I suggested she stay in Missoula another night, get some much needed rest, and delay her day-long drive home. Our crazy el nino weather blessed us with yet another storm, dumping new snow in the mountains. I wanted her to do the long trip fresh and clear headed.

Tuesday morning she pointed the Subaru (our old car) west and hit the road. The weather was OK. Cloudy but not snowing and the two passes she needed to cross were clear. We don't talk while she's driving so I anticipated hearing from her when she stopped in Spokane for gas. Kate has done this trip a number of times but NEVER alone. As you can imagine, I wasn't happy about her driving by herself, but I knew at some point I was going to have to learn to live with it.

When my phone finally rang, I was expecting her call but not my terrified, tear-filled daughter calling from the side of the road on a big pass in northern Idaho. When she finally gathered herself, she told me she was not injured. You can just imagine what was going through my mind! As we continue to talk, I'm running out to the studio (Kent's office) to tell him and figure out what we needed to do and quick!

It turned out that tire flew off a truck heading in the opposite direction on the freeway, and came right at her! She had nowhere to go, a car to her right, ditch to her left. The bouncing tire hit the front right of the car and bounced off. (Had it hit the windsheild, I don't think our girl would be alive to tell the story.)

She was able to get over and pull off the road. Another driver saw it happen and pulled over behind her. He quickly got her cell number and chased the truck the tire flew off of. What a nice guy! In the meantime, I had her call 911. The state trooper arrived quickly. At this point I was ready to jump in the car and race east to get my girl.

My husband was on the phone with our insurance company while Kate filed an accident report with the trooper. Finally, the towing company arrived and took Kate and the car to Coeur d'Alene. By the time they arrived, we'd rented her a car and decided it was best for her to turn around and head back to Missoula and stay there for the remainder of the week.

Not exactly her idea (or mine) of a fun spring break - but thankfully she was safe!

No! I don't need the duct tape to stick the car back together (turns out all the damage is cosmetic!), I need to quickly FedEx it to my daughter with instructions to kindly do her Ma a favor and stick herself in one spot for the rest of the school year!

Finally, this will be my last post for a week. I'm off to the Bay Area in the morning to visit family in Santa Rosa, then head to San Francisco Monday for business. I can't wait to tell you all about my trip and the many exciting things happening around here. All I can say is Raw Materials has taken off!

But, most importantly - once again - we have been blessed, our daughter is safe, our futures are still bright, and all is well.

Have a great weekend!