mek.highcroft.com

Words of Caution

I have a bad habit of putting things on top of the car/van/truck and heading off down the road only to find that 1) my stuff has blown off and is in the street; 2) driving off, realizing that stuff is on the roof and screeching to a stop to get it off the roof before it blows off; or 3) forgetting that things are on the roof, driving all the way to my destination with things on the roof, only to exit the vehicle, and comment, astounded, that the stuff was still there.

My cellphone is usually the main object left on the roof. It once travelled 30 miles on the roof of our Mazda Protoge 5, and I was VERY surprised to find it still on the roof when we got to our destination.

Last night, however, came a lesson I will not soon forget.

We were hastilly preparing to go visit Shawn and Ali at their new home, and planning to meet them at Ruby Tuesday's for dinner beforehand. In my haste, as I put Caroline into her car seat, I put my checkbook, notes from work, and my iPAQ on the roof of the van. We made it three houses down the street and heard a flip-flop-flap on the roof, and I watched checks, notes, and despsit slips fly off the back of the van (only 20 mph, but it makes quite a mess). So, I stopped, hopped out, picked up all the stuff and started off again.

Heidi apparently asked if there was anything else on the roof. I did not hear her for my frustration at forgetting about the checkbook. 30, 40 50 mph on the main road, and flop-flop-flop I hear something making it's way to the back of the van again... and I watch as my iPAQ falls off the back of the van, landing on the street at 50 miles per hour. Watching it tumble down the road was terrible. I heaved on the brakes, undoubtedly frightening both Heidi and Caroline, and I jumped out, running back down the road to get the pocket PC before it was run over by traffic behind us. Stylus, gone. Memory card: flung out of the PDA and into the middle of the road, destroyed. The iPAQ itself, miraculously, is only marginally scarred on the top-left corner of the case, and still seems to be working well.

This could easily have been a $500. lesson. Fortunately (for now) it is more a lesson in paying attention and putting everything IN the vehicle rather than ON it, and a lesson I will not soon forget.

Posted by MEK at September 28, 2004 10:47 AM