80 MPH Excitement At The Tinker's Workshop

Yesterday morning I was awoken at the ungodly time of 4:15 am to the sound of what I could best describe as a house being blown up by a very large explosion.  This luckily was not the case but I was not very far off in my thinking this is what happened.  I ran to my window to see nothing much out of the ordinary other than my neighbors stirring just as I was and a few people talking on the street.  I went down stairs to look out the back of my house to find a very beat up yellow Audio parked and smoking at the curb.  Along side the car was a young man on a cell phone talking to who I assumed was 911.  I thought first that this car had been hit or at least side swiped by another car and it had crashed further down the street.  Within minutes the Police had arrived and more neighbors had appeared in their bath robes on the street looking at the wreck behind my house and farther down the street.  My view looking out my kitchen window is limited and I was unable to look farther down the street because of the garages I rent next to my house. I thought about the situation for a couple of minutes and being as I was not dressed and did not want to get up  at such and hour decided to go back to bed.  The police had everything under control and I was none the worse for wear so I climbed back into bed and drifted off.

  Several hours later when the light of day had arrived and I was fully rested I got up to investigate what had happened during the very early hours of the morning.  By this time it was 8:00 am or so and the reminders of what had happened during the night were still very visible on the street.  Oil marks on the road where the yellow Audio had died, skid marks across my sidewalk, lawn torn up a bit, more skid marks and to my shock and amazement very little left of the garages that I store my Mini Cooper, Goldwing motorcycle, hand built kayak, and my hand built motorcycle trailer.  The garages are or should I say were numbed from seven to fifteen.  I rent number seven and eight and the drunk driver destroyed garages nine  through fourteen.  Just missing my garages by a couple of feet! The good Lord was watching out for me as nothing in the garages was damaged and I still can get the garage doors open and closed without any problems. 

  The drunk driver came down my back street at what was estimated to be 80 mph.  The car hit the curb just in back of my house crashed into the garages wiping out everything that was in them.  The car then spun 180 degrees pointing it back in the direction it had come.  The drunk tried to escape the accident by driving the wreck away where it died behind my house.  He then tried to run away on foot and was captured by the police some time later and is now sitting in jail wondering I am sure as to what all the fuss is about.  

  Due to all of this happening the garages now will either have to be torn down and rebuilt or repairs made to the already old structure to try and salvage what is left of the building. I vote for new garages as these were smaller than what I really need and the bigger garages would be a blessing if and when I buy a larger car than my Mini and want more room for other projects from my workshop. Not sure how this will all turn out yet as it will be some time before the owners of the garages gets the contractors, insurance people, and the city officials together to sort the entire mess out so things can somewhat get back to normal in my neighborhood once again. 

  So this is the whole story and since a picture is worth more than the words I have typed here I give you what is left of my garages and thank the Lord for smiling on me once again.

 The two garages closest to my little white house are where my Mini Cooper, Goldwing motorcycle, custom built kayak and motorcycle trailer are stored. A very close call to be sure.  If the drunk had hit the end of the garage it would have wiped out everything that was in my garages plus probably set  my house on fire and the rest of the garages to the ground.

When the car hit this portion of the garage it sounded like a bomb had gone off in the neighborhood.  Scary to say the least.

The yellow parts laying on the ground are some of the parts of the front end of the yellow Audi that caused the damage.

 The green that you see in this photo is actually a Kawasaki motorcycle buried under what is left of the garage.

 Another view of the garage looking up the street. 

 Oil now stains the sidewalk and street where the drunk tried to escape the scene of the accident.

 In this shot you can see a skid mark where the car landed after it went airborne before hitting the garages.  It's amazing that the driver walked away from this disaster. 

Normally I have excitement in my life by completing a big project that I have planned and worked on for weeks or months and that is enough to make me happy.  This kind of excitement I can do without just as anyone else could.  There may be a blessing in disguise with this accident once all of the paperwork and rebuilding and the dust has settled.  Not sure what it is yet but I am hoping for either brand new larger garages or maybe even the chance to buy the property and expand the Tinker's Workshop along with brand new garages.  I can only hope.  Just will have to see how it all turns out in the coming months.  Just thankful that my garages were not destroyed and no one in the neighborhood had been killed.  I'll keep you posted.