Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:41:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bill Garrison <wegarrison749@yahoo.com>
Subject: Araxos By the Sea, Part V

Araxos By The Sea/My Remote Assignment
Part V

After I got on the road headed to the crew six miles away I felt relieved.
The road was recently resurfaced and I was the only one on the road.  It
was a nice night out and by now it was close to 1 am or after so I enjoyed
the windows being rolled down and letting the wind rush through the cab of
the truck.

The road was only about a regular one and a half lane in width with a ten
foot drop on each side.  There was no shoulder.  When I came to a flat,
straight section of the road, which dissected an olive grove, I noticed
what looked like four little lights ahead.  They looked like glowworm flies
at first as I slowed down and hit the high beams.  They kept coming at me
and moving a bit to my right.  As I got closer I could see that there were
two donkeys blocking the road in front of me and coming straight for me.

The closer they came, the more I pushed down on my breaks and I could tell
we were going to collide.  I swerved to the left, hoping that they would go
to my right and I might miss hitting them, but they didn't.  They kept
coming to my left, one behind the other, blocking the entire roadway.  I
continued to go to the left side thinking that it would be better if we
didn't collide head on.  I remember at that last moment holding onto the
steering wheel and saying out loud...."OK Lord this one's yours".......I
meant that I was giving it up and giving it to the Lord.

I heard the awful thud when the right headlight hit the donkey closest to
me.  I thought I might have hit his head broadside which would have ripped
his head right off, but later I found out that I had hit him at an angle
and point of impact was his shoulder, which caused him to spin around,
hobble off about 15 yards and go to the ground where he eventually died.

Immediately after point of impact I knew the vehicle was in mid air and I
had left the roadway.  I never let go of the steering wheel, but I do
remember that the vehicle was not level.  I felt a very heavy weight on top
of my right foot which caused the accelerator to go to the floor and I
pulled the wheel toward the roadway.  The next thing I knew, I was on the
road and the vehicle was level once again.  I brought the vehicle to a stop
and thought about getting out of the vehicle, but the first thing that came
to mind was the fact that there is usually a farmer with the animals.....I
could envision a farmer with a shotgun wanting to shot me for killing part
of his livelihood, and not being able to communicate with me.  So, I stayed
in the vehicle, looked around and couldn't see that anyone was with the
animals.

All I could think about at that time was that I needed an interpreter, and
so I headed on to where the crew was located so I could use our interpreter
to report the accident.

As it turned out, the donkey that I hit had a rope around its neck which
indicated negligence on the farmers' part.  The damage to the vehicle was
very slight.  It was under $25.00 for a dent in the hood and the headlight.
But I was so shook up after I saw in the daylight how close I came to
turning the truck over four or five times the estimate was told me, that I
didn't sleep for the next four nights.  The good thing about the accident
with the donkey was that it took away all of the talk about Dennis and his
disappearance.  Nobody reported the incident and maybe it should have been
reported.  Dennis was pleasant to me, but we never spent any time together
after that.

(THE END OF PART V)

Comments appreciated/wegarrison749@yahoo.com