Car crashes are interesting experiences.

At the end of my first year of college, I drove 
down to San Louis Obispo to visit my good friend 
Greg.  He had a couple of weeks left at Cal Poly 
before the semester ended.  

It was a good visit, I hadn't seen him in months, 
and he is my friend of longest standing.  I've 
known him since second grade.  We've been 
through a lot of things together, and I know we 
will always be friends.

I had my first burrito from Tia Abierto (then it was 
called Tacos Alcupoco).  If you're ever in SLO, 
go there, they make the best burritos!  Burritos, 
by the way, are the perfect food, in my opinion.  
You get all of your food groups in one compact 
easy to carry package, what could be better?

On Saturday night, we decided to go to Arroyo 
Grande to see Beverly Hills Cop II in the theatre.  
We hopped into Greg's grey Mustang and were 
off.  When he first got the car, in high school, he 
told me that the passenger door mirror was mine, 
to adjust it as I saw fit.  As I got settled into my 
seat for our trip to the theatre, I asked if it was 
still mine, or if he had given it to someone else.  
It was still mine.

Route 17 is a winding road weaving through the 
coastal mountains.  I rode along with my arm out 
the window, but got chilly, so I rolled it up.  
Moments later, we flew past a sign that said 
"25Mph".  

"Do you think 50 is too fast?" Greg asked?

Then we saw the curve.

"Yep!" We both said.

He slammed on the brakes, but there was really 
no point in that.  I had always wondered what it 
was like for a car to over shoot a curve in the 
mountains, and now we were finding out.

We got airborne, and my side of the car scraped 
along a tree.  It was one of the strangest 
sensations of my life.  I've heard that under 
extreme stress, the rate of thought accelerates.  
The net effect was that time appeared to slow 
down.  I have no other way to describe it.  I was 
completely calm, and I can remember everything 
in vivid detail.  We were high enough in the air 
that branches from the tree we hit swatted at the 
windshield.

The right side of the car hit and slid along the 
trunk of the tree.  If my arm had still been out the 
window, I would now be an amputee at the 
elbow.  The window on my side in the back 
broke.  

We landed about 30 feet downhill of the road, 
and I can vividly remember seeing the light glint 
off of each piece of glass as it flew past my head.  
They looked like diamonds hanging in space, it 
was really amazing.

I've thought about this many times since then.  If 
there were a way to consciously get one's mind 
to this accellerated state,  sports performance, 
could be increased astronamically.  I doubt the 
body would move any faster, but you would be 
able to plan and co-ordinate your reactions much 
better.  Of course it is said that the candle that 
burns trice as bright only burns half as long.

We hung there for a moment, suspended by our 
seat-belts, not saying a word.  I broke the 
silence.

"I'm really disappointed in you Greg...  You broke 
my mirror."

We laughed.  A quick check, and we discovered 
that we were both uninjured, except for a little 
hangnail on Greg's thumb.

We climbed out the windows.  The doors 
wouldn't open, mine was smashed and his was 
buried.  Wea quarter of a mile or so down the 
road until we came upon a farmhouse.

"Go over the curve did ya?"  The farmer asked.  
"We get one every month."

It took a couple of tow trucks with winches to 
drag the car back up to the road.  We had to 
change a tire, but it was drivable.  Thankfully the 
Highway Patrolman called to the scene figured 
we'd learned enough of a lesson, so he didn't 
issue a ticket, even though he pointed out that he 
could have, the length of the skid marks was 
plenty of evidence.

We went and saw that movie, and had a great 
time, even checked out an old overgrown 
graveyard near the theatre (I've always thought 
abandoned graveyards were interesting).

I wasn't there a few weeks later when Greg 
brought the car home and his dad saw it.  I 
understand there were fireworks to be seen on 
that day!