Everything Happens for a Reason

On Thursday I had to drive from my house to Sheboygan Wisconsin to have my fingerprints taken to complete my Commercial Drivers License renewal.

I won't get into all the phone calls, and other things I had to do to get this appointment. Lets just say it was not fun. I got there early, and the technician was there so I completed it about three hours ahead of schedule. I then drove home. On the way I stopped for gas, and got something to eat, and I also got caught in a large traffic jam. It was not a real bad jam, but it delayed me by about thirty minutes. Finally I was on my way home, listening to oldies on a local radio station.

I noticed a large cloud of dust on the road ahead of me, and saw a few cars stop. Then to my right I saw a Sport Utility Vehicle that had rolled over. I pulled off the road and ran over to the car. The wheels were still spinning so I guessed that this was why there was a cloud of dust. I was the first person to get to the vehicle. When I went around the front of it I noticed the windshield was completely shattered. and I could see people moving. That was a relief because my mind had run through the other possibilities, all not so good. I got to the top of the car, and another guy, he later told me he was an off duty Outagamie County Sheriff's deputy helped me get the drivers door open. This door seemed very heavy to hold up. But since it was the only way any one was getting out of the car I held it up. The Deputy helped the driver out of the car. A few more guys came up and got the back door open too. The rest of the passengers climbed out that way. There was a second lady in the front seat the started to climb out and she was afraid that the car would roll back on its wheels so I helped her jump down from the roof. As it turns out there were several off duty police and sheriffs people there. One little girl from the back seat had a head cut. There was a nurse there that immediately started treating her for shock and took care of the bleeding. I shook hands with the Deputy that had helped me get the door open, told him I was a truck driver, and that since he had a vest on and was controlling traffic I was going to get my pickup out of there.

I have stopped to help people on the road before, mostly with flat tires, and there was the one accident back in 2000 where a flatbed had rolled over and I helped get the driver and his dog out of the truck, and in 2001 a student and I saw a pickup hit a guard wall in Idaho and sat with the folks from that one on the side of the road till the police came so they would not freeze to death. Lastly there was Run For The Wall 2008 when I stopped and pulled a bike of a friend on the road into Angel Fire NM. That happened at almost the exact same curve that I got clipped my a truck in 2007. But this is the first time I have helped with anything this serious. I have rolled a vehicle once, and everything happens so slowly, and there are things flying everywhere. Most of them are things you never think of and they are hard and hurt when they hit you in the head. I do not know if this vehicle went all the way over, or if everyone, or anyone had their seat belts on. I am just glad I was there to help. There were a lot of folks there, but almost none of them wanted to approach the vehicle to help.

I have always believed that everything happens for a reason. I had to drive over 325 miles to get my fingerprints done. I got caught in a traffic jam that held me up just long enough that I was in the right place at the right time to help those people. Everything happens for a reason.

Dave Talley