January 8, 2004 - Somewhere

So we set off on our way to Pittsburgh, hoping that nothing goes wrong. Everything goes well, and we start to get a little uncomfortable. We got good news with the Undying show, but surely we can't be on a roll. At least that's what I thought. We stopped at a truck stop to gas up. I was bored with my music and couldn't listen to anything anymore, so I bought a book on tape. The Pleasre of My Company by Steve Martin. I was excited. I was in the very back seat of the van, stretched out in my sleeping bag with my headphones on and just relaxing.

Then I hear it.

BOOM!

Then from the front seat, Chris yelling, "Oh shit!" Everyone turns around and looks out the back window. I pull my headphones off and sit up. Right out the back window, the trailer hitch has broken and the trailer is being dragged behind us on the highway at 70 mph by a chain. Sparks are flying out everywhere. Chris doesn't know what to do, so he slows down and tries to pull over. As he slows down, the trailer comes flying towards the back of the van. I think to myself, "Oh fuck. This is going to be bad."

I could imagine it perfectly in that split second. Of everything that was running through my mind, the main thought was, "This trailer is going to hit us, break out both these windows and send shards of glass flying at my face. I am so fucked. I was so comfortable in the back with my tapes and my sleeping bag, now I am fucked."

Then the trailer hit us.

And nothing happened.

It dented the back doors. That was all. We pull over to the side of the road, and try to figure out what happened. It started to snow while we were on the side of the highway. The pin that holds the trailer to the hitch broke off somewhere, and that's what started this. Brook gets on the phone with AAA and tries to explain what happened. AAA doesn't care, because they don't cover trailers. That's U-Haul's department apparently. Brook hangs up, and we decide to fix it ourselves and just get to the nearest hotel. We'd fix it for real the next day. Someone finds a 6" bolt on the side of the road that works pretty well. We stick it in there and duct tape the fuck out of it, climb back in the van and drive 45 mph 5 miles to the next exit. We get off somewhere, find a hotel and stay the night there. Only about 2 hours away from Pittsburgh. Told you everything was going too well.

We did have a little fun in the hotel though, so that helped.