Hello Everyone. We have received a number of texts, emails and Facebook messages asking questions and expressing concern, so I though I would share what happened to our family on Sunday, while on vacation. First off, let me say, thank you for your kind words of concern, support and encouragement. And, I would like to share that no one in my family sustained any physical injury, our vehicle and the prop trailer full of props are still in undamaged condition. Our only injury is the memory of the things that we viewed during the tragic situation. We left Vegas and began heading north toward our next destination (Bend) on Monday morning. When we were about 60 mile north of Vegas, a bluish Subaru passed us (we were traveling on a two lane highway in the slow lane), and got in front of us in the slow lane. Within about 5 seconds after this vehicle passed us, it was hit head on by a silver Acura travelling south in the northbound lanes on our side of the highway. Both vehicles were travelling at approx. 70 mph. When the collision occurred, we were right behind it. My husband immediately put on the hazard lights and quickly slowed down. There was debris everywhere, there was some smoke--the Subaru had a small fire on the front, the smell was awful and both vehicles were on opposite sides of our highway--one in the median and one on the shoulder. The silver car was torn in half, and its driver ended up in the back seat (he wasnt wearing a seatbelt). He was already dead. The Subaru driver was not doing well--his airbags had opened up, but he also was not wearing a seatbelt. As Graham ran down the highway one way to check on these people, I ran down the highway through the oncoming vehicles in search of a fire extinguisher. There was no time to think...just time to do. A fire extinguisher was found and the fire was put out. In the meantime, the driver of the Subaru died. There was a gentleman from the air force and a woman from the forestry service who were also working with us to try to help with the situation. It was one of the worst things I have ever seen in real life. The police soon arrived, as did the medics. Our children saw most everything from the back seats of our Suburban. A very kind police officer offered them a Sponge Bob stuffed animal as we waited for about an hour, answering questions. It was tragic and traumatic. We are very sad for both individuals who lost their lives that day, and wish we could have done more to help them live. We have replayed the situation many times over with the what ifs, and feel very blessed that is was not our family that was hit. If the gentleman in the Subaru had not passed us seconds earlier, it would have been us...would have been our children. So, again thank you for checking in on us, and for being kind. We are grateful to be alive, to have each other and to spend more time on this Earth! Give your family members a hug and tell them you love them, you never know when your time is up...
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:21:15 +0000