Had two of the frat boys down to go over end of year stuff, and at around 10:30 one borrowed my car to take a five minute trip to the grocery to get cigarettes, and of all things, cookies. On his way back, he got run off the road by a convoy of fracking trucks, and my car is now in the middle of the field. Thank goodness he is ok and in one piece.
Oh, and if you have no idea what a convoy of fracking trucks is, it is a convoy of usually six to eight massive diesels carrying potable water to mix with the chemicals they are blasting into my countryside. They always have a cute lead pick up truck with yellow lights and a wide load sign, because apparently having that allows their trucks to blast down rural roads at insane speeds and run everyone else off the road. SHUT THE FUCK UP PUSSIES, WE TOLD YOU A WIDE LOAD WAS COMING. THAT MEANS YOU DON’T GET ANY OF THE FUCKING ROAD. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH.
Walt and I drove out and picked him up, and I tried to call AAA, but they wanted me to wait on top of a hill in a whipping wind for 90 minutes, so we just cleaned out the car, locked it up, and left. It was too dark and I was in pajama bottoms and a bathrobe (what can I say- your buddy gets run off the road you go in what you are wearing) and freezing, so I have no idea how bad the car is. I think it is done.
As we got back, I got a call from the Sheriff’s office- I guess someone reported the car over the hill- and tomorrow I am going to go in and file a report against these god damned trucks. One almost ran me off the road today on my way home from work, and on our way out there, one almost ran me and Walt off the road again. It’s a god damned public menace.
At any rate, I’m afraid my beloved Subaru is dead. Because I have tons of cash sitting around to buy a new car.
Karen in GA
Fuck. I’m glad nobody was hurt. Is there anything at all that can be done about these assholes?
Meanwhile, take a deep breath, and pet Rosie, Lily and Steve — well, pet Rosie and Lily, and bow down to Steve — to remind yourself why you’re on this earth, and how worth it everything really is.
ETA: Those bastards owe you a Subaru (the truckers, not the pets).
gwangung
Yet another way fracking screws over this country…..
brettvk
Lawsuit?
Jerzy Russian
Having gone trough this myself, losing your car is definitely a pain in the ass. Hopefully those frackers can pick up the tab.
Omnes Omnibus
Come on, Cole, didn’t you take part in back road convoys in Germany? Oh wait, we didn’t just run people off the road. Never mind.
CaseyL
Holy shit. It’s bad enough fracking contaminates water tables and causes earthquakes; now it turns out all the drivers are recruited from the IGMFU School for Advanced Assholery?
Check your poor Subaru out again in daylight; maybe it’s not as bad as you thought.
And I see no reason why you shouldn’t file a civil suit against the truckers. If, FSM forbid, anyone had been hurt, damn skippy you’d’ve sued them. It sounds like no one got hurt only through great good luck. Get the fucking frackers to buy you a new car!
Jerzy Russian
Also, at least you were not mopping the floor when this incident occurred.
KG
Depending on your insurance, you might get a rental and should get replacement value of the car. The frat boy would probably be the one that would have to file the law suit; still not a bad idea to talk to a local lawyer about a demand letter, once you figure out the damage
Omnes Omnibus
@Jerzy Russian: I still put on pants. And a shirt. And quite likely a sweater.
NotMax
So you entertain your frat boys while wearing pajama bottoms and a robe…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Oh, and tomorrow, bring someone along who can take in focus pictures of the car.
wasabi gasp
Kinda dropped the plot on them cookies there.
Tommy
I kid you not when I say this. In 1994 my car broke down. A 1991 Ford Explorer. I might have driven most folks I know across the nation in that car. My favorite area Texas. When it died on the side of the road, folks ran to help me :). Things that happened in that Ford, well we could make a few ads about them.
Now just a VW guy ….
SiubhanDuinne
I’m glad nobody was hurt. I have nothing funny to say. This sucks in many ways.
But still, I’m glad nobody was hurt.
Frivolous
Very sorry your car is damaged and perhaps totaled, John Cole. Hope it’s not as bad or expensive as you anticipate.
Jerzy Russian
@Omnes Omnibus:
Is this when you mop, or when you have to run out of the house?
Omnes Omnibus
Was the car actually hit or was it run off the road? If it was just run off the road and it didn’t hit anything, it should be fine – or fixable.
Alison
Damn, I’m sorry, JC :/ Definitely glad your friend is okay, but that super sucks about the car. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as all that, if you can get it back on the road…
Omnes Omnibus
@Jerzy Russian: It is really none of your business what I wear when I mop – if I mop. But if I get a call saying that I need to go out for something, I put on clothing.
ETA: Actual clothing.
wasabi gasp
This is why I leave a poncho by the door.
max
At any rate, I’m afraid my beloved Subaru is dead.
What Omnes said: unless the frat boy ran over a stump or a post or something going off the road and rammed said object into the block, or he rolled it/flipped the car, there’s no reason for anything to be seriously wrong with the vehicle, ‘cept maybe flat tires or a bent strut at worst. Shit, even if it it freezes overnight (I’m going to assume it’s not -40 there) and blows the freeze plugs, that can be fixed.
All that said, John, never fucking loan your car to anybody (particularly frat boys) because if they do anything bad, you’re liable.
max
[‘Go the 7-11 in your bathrobe yourself.’]
Time Travelin
So not only do you voluntarily live in a place where it gets cold enough to snow, you live in a place where fracking convoys roam freely causing havoc? I once again appreciate why I pay way too much to live here.
PeakVT
You need to get yourself a dash cam, Cole. Or a mount for your iDoodad, if you have one.
NotMax
Curious if the airbag deployed.
With no injuries and an intact airbag assembly, insurance companies are much, much easier to deal with.
Tommy
@Alison: I come from a family of car folks. Drivers. They tell me we need to go from there to here while I ponder how to fly. They are mapping out driving. I mean they stop looking for the largest ball of twine. Last year or so I’ve drien when them for thousand miles, kind of nice.
Tommy
@PeakVT: GoPro.
Alison
@Tommy: Why….is this a reply to me?
PeakVT
@Tommy: GoPro doesn’t have embedded GPS in their cameras yet (AFAIK).
Warren Terra
One of the more surprising and disturbing things in the fracking article in a recent issue of The American Prospect was about how in some areas of Pennsylvania the local authorities have literally turned over control of local public roads to the fracking companies, roads local people need to get to their homes. The companies set up checkpoints and deny access except to their convoys for up to half the day – and have rules saying the checkpoint guards should deny passage to journalists at all times.
Narcissus
It’s the Kellogg, Brown and Root model transported to Appalachia.
Arclite
Well, the six figure annual salary you earn from BJ should get you a nice Range Rover.
handsmile
I feared Fate was being too sorely tempted when BJ commenter JMG (#33) wrote this at 7:51pm on John Cole’s earlier “Open Thread” (weird sunset):
“Dear Mr. Cole: You seem so much happier today.”
Subarus are notoriously hard to kill. But very glad indeed to read that the only injuries here may be automotive. Excluding, of course, the pain of crimes of fashion.
@Alison:
Finally returned home to leave you a reply re Judt’s Postwar. (Comment #60 on DougJ’s “Open Thread”)
? Martin
They are job creators extracting the sweet nectar that God has endowed your countryside with.
Why do you hate America?
NotMax
@Tommy
Used to love long stretches of driving. But solo, with no stops other than for gas or for potty breaks.
One trip, late in a December way back when, was from St. Paul to NYC. 21 hours straight through.
Mary G
Hate to say it, but unless you can prove which fracking truck it was, you might be out of luck. They all deny any responsibility if they possibly can. Responsibility is for suckers.
I love my Subaru Forester and I hope yours didn’t sustain too much undercarriage damage and can be fixed.
Alison
@handsmile: Awesome, thank you! Yeah, I mostly just wasn’t sure how much of the actual war and such was discussed, and just wanted to sort of know what I was getting into, you know? I really appreciate everyone’s input. Think I’m gonna give it a shot as my year-ender :)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: What! No tie, you’re slipping.
ruemara
I’m glad your frat son is ok. Sorry about the car, tho. Even though of all things to get busted, that’s the best result, it still sucks. May you get good news and fair restitution.
ranchandsyrup
Man, sorry to hear abt your car, Cole. Hope tomorrow is a better day.
Debbie(aussie)
@Time Travelin: where is here?
Sorry about the car, John. Glad no one was hurt. Bloody fracking.
Fracking is referred to as CSG mining here. Taken off in a big way in QLD. Many people not happy.
PurpleGirl
Cole: sorry about the car, hope the damage isn’t extensive; glad the frat kid is okay.
This evening there were two Rethuglicans on a political talk show on New York 1 (Time Warner news channel). The two men were complaining that Gov. Cuomo had closed down the natural gas industry in NYS with the restriction on fracking. I’m glad Cuomo doesn’t like fracking right now. The one Rethuglican compared NYS to PA on the issue of the jobs created and the economic activity that comes with fracking. Unfortunately, I changed the channel before I heard if the host brought up water contamination. (I wanted to throw something at the speaker and I didn’t want to break my TV….. I changed the channel instead.)
trollhattan
Goddamnit, this stuff pisses me off. We live under this purportedly commie Kenyan regime and these asshats still run the joint. I’m sure Willard would have reined them in.
Have no idea what power you have at your disposal considering your locale, but I hope you can blister their asses with hellfire. Why are we surrendering to these folks?
Tokyokie
@Warren Terra: Out here in North Texas, ground zero for fracking, the fracking trucks have torn up some rural roads, some of them commuting routes for the outlying suburbs, so badly that there’s no point in repairing them any longer and the county is just dumping gravel on the blacktop. How’s that for “progress?” And heaven forfend if the folks responsible for ruining the roads pay to repair them. No, they’re creators, by golly! We moochers and looters will ding up our cars with small, flying rocks and eventually completely redo the roads after they leave because FREEDOM!
? Martin
@trollhattan:
I’d be tossing spike strips on the road in front of them.
AnotherBruce
@Omnes Omnibus: I put on chaps, a jock strap and a pony tail. But that’s just me, I’m really cold tolerant.
JoyfulA
@PurpleGirl: According to people living in the fracking parts of PA, any jobs created went to Oklahomans, who drive home for the weekend (apparently very fast).
In other parts of the state, we have warehouses at every interstate crossing (because we’re the “keystone”), meaning thousands of poor-paying jobs (far from any public transportation) and thousands of big-rigs racing everybody else off the road.
So everybody else is hurting because the state has to cut education at every level, eliminate the subsidized health insurance for low-paid workers we used to have, etc., because all the taxes have been spent luring the job creators.
geg6
@JoyfulA:
As one who lives in the fracking part of PA, I can tell that your friends are correct, at least mostly. But the people with all the fracking jobs are not just from OK, but from LA and TX, too. Don’t know a single native Keystone stater with a Marcellus Shale job. Not one. And they don’t go home on weekends. They have created their own shanty towns of mobile homes, where they spend the weekends getting DUIs, beating their wives and kids, buying and taking meth and shooting each other and assorted innocents dead for kicks.
mary
@geg6: This is the situation in western North Dakota too. It’s a miserable situation there. I hear blowhards on TV go on about the economic miracle in North Dakota but I don’t see them moving there to enjoy the fruits of unfettered capitalism.
Pogonip
IF you have insurance covering any licensed driver who drives your car, you can file a claim and your insurance co., which can afford a lot more justice than you can, will subrogate (go after) the fuckers–I mean the frackers. If your insurance only covers you, then you’re SOL and will have to sue Bigevil Corp. on your own.
Pogonip
Also too, the kid needs to file a complaint/accident report with the sheriff. Your insurance company will need that, as will you if you end up suing the frackers.
bmoak
Sorry about your car. I really really dislike car shopping, so I tend to do it only when I’m forced into it. Unfortunately, your insurance company might decide to play hardball and give you nothing since the accident happened with someone not on your policy driving your car.
Ben Cisco
Sorry to hear about the accident. Can’t add to the suggestions regarding dealing with the frackers, but if you have to replace the vehicle, you may want to check out Carmax. I bought a vehicle from them several months back and I have to say it was a great experience.
khead
A field? A pickup truck with lights leading the way?
Real Mountaineers dodge road hogging coal trucks by driving off the mountainside and into a valley.
Genine
I’m sorry about your car, John. I hope replacing it won’t be too painful. I’m glad no one was hurt!
Howard Beale IV
Time to go Russian.
Paul in KY
Hoping your insurance allowed the frat dude to drive it (and be covered).
Since you have lots of money, you should get at Tesla Model S. Looked at one, pretty snazzy car.
chrome agnomen
you are being played, dude.
Howard Beale IV
@Tommy: The Russian’s certainly love their dashcams,
Bill
John, I routinely drive my Outback into the woods and haul logs out with it, with no ill effects. The chassis is very rigid, as long as the rust isn’t too bad, and the engines are all but indestructible as long as they haven’t been run without oil. Don’t be too surprised if you’re driving the car again soon. If the car is a rotted out POS, then just find another, preferably one with about 120k that needs head gaskets; negotiate the price of the gasket job off the price of the car, have the timing belt and water pump replaced while the heads are being done, and the car is good to 250k barring tragedy. Hoping your car is OK. Email me if you want to talk Subaru.
Jack the Second
@geg6:
The meth dealers are at least local, right?
ThresherK
Ages ago, my sister rolled her Subaru DL (2 door hatch, about 1 ton total weight) in “nobody-hurt circumstances”, and was able to drive it away from the scene after the EMTs cleared her.
So, here’s hoping.
Elizabelle
John: Hope your Subaru is OK, and glad the frat bro is fine.
Eye opening the dangers these fracking convoys pose.
I don’t think most people who don’t live in fracking territory know the danger to water supplies and now the Blackwater type extralegal convoying.
Stories like this need to get out.
Sherean
Something I learned from an insurance adjuster ages ago when my car was declared a total: don’t just take the cash. They have to provide you with an equal vehicle. At the time, my low-mileage Corolla was declared a total and with the cash they gave me (whatever they valued that YEAR’S make), I could not afford a low-mileage car. I ended up buying something at auction with almost 100,000 miles.
Later, I learned that I could have made the insurance company find me a comparable car. I don’t know if that’s still the case, but look into it. Make them find you a comparable car. Period.
Glad everyone is safe. Sorry about the car, though!
karen
It’s really reaching a point where the red states are becoming the shanty towns and the blue states are the elite. Not that the people are but at least they get money for education, health care, etc.
JustRuss
How did you not Rumsfeldize that?: When your buddy gets run off the road, you go in the pants you have, not the pants you wish you had.
jame
That’s how my brother died, returning home (an hour’s drive from the university) in the dark. He met three 18-wheelers in a convoy driving over the center line. He swerved, over-corrected and went head-on into the second truck. Later the guy driving the second truck tried to sue my other brother (the owner of the truck) for damages.