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Day 16: Crashes

Crash 1
The Brainard Lake loop was slick and by slick I mean the trail frequently sent me careening into nearby trees. Don't be fooled by the lovely scenery; every move was a battle to remain on the trail. On the access road descent, I picked up a lot of speed on hard-packed snow, maybe caught an edge, and went down with terrific force. It was one of those falls where you remain horizontal as you quickly assess whether you're conscious. I recalled a bike crash, years ago, when I slapped some leaves to my forehead and contemplated whether to take the shorter, woodsy way home or the longer, road-based way home, lest I fainted and needed to be found by someone. Today, I tried assessing whether I was bleeding but decided getting back to the car should be my first priority. I sustained a cheek laceration, thanks to my sunglasses, and a bruised eyebrow. I'm wondering if I'll have a black eye tomorrow.

Crash 2
I wish I had a picture of this one but, alas, I was in a rush to get to a luncheon/interview. Let's just say I'm not used to driving a rear-wheel drive vehicle in snow. I rounded a bend, knew I had too much speed, and headed towards the nearest snow bank. Praise God I landed on the snow bank rather than crashing down the other side! This was the second time in my life that I was infinitely grateful for a snow bank. The first time was on a very snowy drive up to Big Bear, on a detour, with next to no gas in my tank. That time, AAA was my savior. Today, a father-son team came up the road, pushed me out of the snow bank, collected the fog light and some other plastic piece sitting in the snow bank, bungee-corded the valance to the bumper, and wished me well.

Lessons Learned
  1. Know my skiing limits.
  2. Drive carefully on snow, especially on curves. When in doubt, try 4wd.
  3. God is good to me beyond measure; I'm completely undeserving of His grace.
Following on Lesson 3, a song that struck me a couple times today is by JJ Heller called "What Love Really Means," describing God's great love for us. Here's a line or two: "I will love you for you, not for what you have done or what you will become."
And with that, I'm signing off for awhile. I'll be on an ice climbing "sabbatical" until the weekend with plenty of posts to follow.

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