Hi Everyone,
We've had lots of phone calls and e-mails of concern; so first let me say that we are all fine.
After the Event at Mayo yesterday, we headed out on the road again on our way to New Mexico. We were caught in a dust storm on Route 10 East in Arizona.The storm came up very quickly and was very bad.
We were very fortunate to have our driver, Bobby Trufant, with us at this point on our trip. I had been doing all of the driving, and Bobby just started driving for us today! I was in the passenger seat, and actually took video of the dust storm, as we had never seen one before. The visibility quickly became zero. Traffic stopped abruptly - and we stopped just inches from the truck in front of us.
Unfortunately, the truck behind us did not stop in time, and rear-ended the Myeloma Mobile.
Thankfully the Myeloma Mobile is like a tank and no one got hurt.
Mikey and Ally were in the back of the RV - and were our first concern. We ran to the back of the RV to check on them and then the next moment looked out the front window . . . and saw devastation in front of us.
A tractor trailer was less than 50 yards in front of us - we were the first vehicle behind the tractor trailer. It had slammed into a car and an SUV and everything was on fire. There were numerous smaller accidents all around us but the devastation in front of us was sureal. Black smoke was billowing towards us, our eyes and throats were already burning from the smoke. I called 911, and Michael and I were trying to decide if it was safer to stay in the RV or get out. We stayed - the kids were safer inside than out.
Bobby took our fire extinguisher and ran out to see if he could help. There was already one explosion from the truck's gas tank blowing - so the fire extinguisher was like pouring a cup of water on an inferno. Bobby and a few others went up and pulled two people from the car that was hit. The truck driver was out safely and the people from the SUV also escaped. The two people from the car had to be transported by helicopter and we hope they are okay. While Bobby was pulling one of the men out of the car, there was a second explosion - our RV shook - and I can't even imagine what Bobby was feeling/thinking. He was acting on instinct and helping to save a life.
I'll let the photos I took do the rest of the talking; as we are all just thankful to be alive today. Our eternal thanks to Bobby for his quick thinking and driving ability; the IMF, especially Dr. Durie and Susie Novis whose care and concern for our family is overwhelming; and to David Smith of the IMF who, as always, was level headed during a difficult situation and helped to get us to safety.
We are now in Tucson for today, and the forecast is for a monsoon! But for now, we are going to go outside and enjoy the pool . . . . and life.
Robin, Michael, Ally & Mikey
(Spike & Shannon are fine too!)