...My FINAL and Most Expensive Mod!
...Howdy!...:cowboy:
...Here is a tale of sadness and despair.....
...a week ago I went down to Yellowstone-National-Park for a day of shooting time-lapses....and it went well...( most of the idiot tourists were gone! )..:thumb3:
...Here is the time-lapse I managed to shoot:
https://vimeo.com/303431221
... if ya wanna see a lot more..please go to my website:
https://www.memory-lapse-photo.com
...Anyway....after driving all day...I had put on over 300 miles..and had to risk driving home in the dark on the scary corridor from Gardiner at the northern entrance to the park...52 miles north to the interstate...which is laden with hundreds of deer and elk all feeding from the grain fields that line this very rural ranchland area....it is a Very tense drive with your eyes darting back n forth like a pinball machine....:wow2:
...I got thru that gauntlet with no incident...as well as the drive back on the interstate....and was headin home on a fairly major 4-lane corridor thru a mostly industrial area....I was only 6 miles from home...
...I was in the far right lane, with a car to my left in the inner lane, about half a car length ahead of me....we were both going 60 in a 70mph zone...
...In a flash...a mule-deer came from the left at full speed...I never saw it until it was 6-feet in front of my poor 4Runner!....I saw open road...DEER!...Airbags!.....all in a fraction of a second!...I never even saw the impact cos the airbags deployed so rapidly!....the impact stopped my truck dead...ALL the airbags went off..and I was suddenly encased in a nylon cannoli of inflated airbags....( when they go off..there is a tremendous amount of steam and dust and noise....but I was mostly uninjured! )...
...This all happened so quickly I had NO time to react...or tense up..or even shout some obscenities!...:yell:
...The steering wheel airbag deflates...so I could see a lot of smoke coming from the engine area...so I quickly pulled off to the shoulder...with ugly noises coming from the injured vehicle...I put on my emergency-flashers and realized the side-curtain airbags would NOT deflate...( later I was told this is another safety feature in case you get hit by another vehicle from behind )...
...Another driver stopped to see if I was OK..and he called 911...Montanans are really good about helping!....:thumb3:
...The paramedics arrived..and checked my vitals...I was ok..but my BP was a little high...( Wonder WHY?! )....the state-trooper arrived...then the tow truck, etc.....I was checking my camera gear to make sure nuthin got damaged....and it was all OK....had it towed to the Toyota dealership...and had a neighbor pal comes get me so I could take out all my gear before headin home....
...
EVERYONE told me it was the Most amount of damage they had ever seen from a deer strike...(
so I got that goin for me? )....
...the collision-clinic estimated the damage at $23,542.12....so it was totaled..mostly due to all the airbags deploying...which was the majority of the costs.....:jaw:
...I just spent the last 3 days undoing ALL the mods I have spent the last 8 months doing to my truck...and I did a LOT!...I built a huge camera-gear storage box which was bolted to the rear sliding cargo-deck...designed and built a sleeping-platform inside by removing the rear seats..and had the supports custom-welded up by a real master here in Bozeman. I built a custom platform on the roof....added the gobi-ladder to the back...( and what a ***** that was to remove with oodles of 3M industrial strength double sided tape!!! )...I replaced All the interior lights with LEDs...high-intensity backup lights....and only 4 days before the collision...dropped 200-bucks on HID low-beam headlights so I could see better at night to avoid the deer....Irony?...:noidea:
...I am heart-broken and devastated about now....I lost my truck..and killed a deer that I also love...( actually Banzai-Bambi the Kamikaze-Deer killed itself...but the results are the same....)...:hurt:
...Now I am waiting to see what AAA pays me to replace my truck...and....Hell, Yeah!....I'm gettin the very same thing!...It did it's job and sacrificed itself to save me..so All of you out there should feel even safer in your 4Runners...cos this is one Helluva vehicle!...:thumb3:
...Below are sad pics...the first pre-crash in it's glory...and the last one is probably the most ironic pic I will ever take!
