March 2, 2015 Northern Florida

We woke up at Indian Pass in dense fog. The fog was condensed on everything and it was wet. Outside our window not only had the island disappeared, but so had the ocean.

 

View out the window of the island and ocean-not. A before and after shot of the fog on the beach.

Driving slow since we could not see too far ahead. But this bridge was kind of a leap of faith, looked like it went to never never land. These bear crossing signs are interesting on the beach. Yes there are black bears here. Guess I lived too long in the mountains and think of them only there. We passed Tate’s Hell, which is a giant swamp. Would love to explore it another time.

 

The fog cleared up and it was a glorious sunny day, 75 degrees.  This car was driving in our lane on the highway. John laid on the air horn, it kept coming, John drove to the shoulder, it kept coming at us, he drove the bus down the steep embankment at 55 mph. I thought the bus would roll, it did not, we did not hit any trees, but it get us out of part of the impact zone. John saved our lives with his driving skills. The other gentleman was not so lucky, he is no longer with us. Very sad. We escaped without a scratch. We had our seatbelts on and they worked.

The front of the bus is pretty badly damaged. The drivers compartment was damaged on the drivers side. We don’t know yet if it is totaled or not. We have insurance, so did the other driver. It will either get fixed or we will get another one. In the bus the cupboards opened, everything came up front. Notice the recliner wedged between the seats.The footstool and tons of other stuff up against the dash. The only things that broke were a couple plates.

The debris  in the road is from the car. I still can’t believe that John got us safely off the road. The bus being winched up to the road.

   

Bus being towed. We had a dash cam so we and the police saw what happened. No one knows why the guy was in our lane. He was alone in the car. Could have been asleep or a medical problem. No alcohol was involved.  We are shell shocked. We did not sleep last night. I am pretty sore today. We are both very sad for the man and his family members. 

Our tow car is ok, so we have that to drive.  We are in a hotel in Madison, Florida. We have trip interruption insurance so some expenses are covered. The towing and bus are covered with insurance. If they can fix it they will, it will take awhile, but if it is totaled we will get another bus. We are working on getting a pod (moving truck thing) to put our possessions into.

We are grateful both of us are alive and unhurt  . It was a miracle.