29 December 2009

Once in a lifetime. I hope.

I live in Provo, which is located in Utah Valley. I work in Salt Lake City, which is located in Salt Lake Valley. These valleys are separated by mountains. Well, ish. It's not like I have to traverse a 13,000 foot mountain to get to work every day. But I do have to go over what is called the Point of the Mountain. I've included an image from GoogleMaps of the Point of the Mountain. As you can see, there is a mountain there on the right, and it comes to a point. Even at the point where the mountain "ends" the altitude is still fairly high. This means it is very windy at the Point of the Mountain. You can often see hang gliders doing their hang gliding things on the south side of the Point of the Mountain.

The wind causes wrecks. If the weather is bad in either valley, it is almost guaranteed to be worse at the Point of the Mountain.Today my car spun out of control at the Point of the Mountain. I was in the left lane closest to the HOV lane when I hit a patch of ice and spun out. I ended in the far right lane facing the opposite direction of traffic. Miraculously, I did not hit anybody or anything, despite there being numerous cars all around me. It was something I definitely only need to experience once. And now I will drive more slowly over Point of the Mountain. (For the record, I was not going very fast. I was on par with the cars around me.)

10 comments:

Ana said...

REALLY glad you're ok!!!

Unknown said...

SCARY!!!
(whew...)

Packrat said...

Yikes. Glad you and everyone else is okay. In general,I just wish everyone would slow down.

Janssen said...

Scary! Glad it wasn't any worse.

Unknown said...

I'm so glad you are okay. That was a miracle. I would love to see the replay from above in the next life, and see how the angel guided your car. Did I ever tell you about my car/angel experience?

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Agghhh! Glad you are all in one piece.

And for a trivia moment--until all the development went in there, the point of the mountain was one of the most coveted hang-gliding spots in the country.

Also, don't you love the sign that says "Don't Stop For Hitchikers!" because of the prison?

Jillian said...

Ahhh! Wow, I'm glad you're ok!! I commute every day to SLC too... it can be crazy like you say, but it's good to know you're ok!

Jillian said...

P.S. Glad you wrote down and recognized the miracle :) You are loved!

Jenn said...

Wow, scary! I spun around once on Highway 80 in Mesquite when it was raining. Definitely a terrifying experience I hope I never repeat. So glad you and the car are ok!

Bart said...

Yikes! That's the kind of experience that leaves your heart pounding 100 mph and you're just absolutely grateful to be so lucky and yet you're also peeved at yourself for letting it happen but, man! It's nice it wasn't worse.

At least that's how I've felt in similar situations. Glad you're okay! I'll be more careful on the point of the mountain in the winter, too!