License, Insurance Card, and Registration Please?

So, this past week Wednesday I headed down to Pennsylvania for work. It happened to be break week for the kids and THE MAN had already headed down for his job earlier. So, thought I'd hang out in our office for a bit. Only trouble traveling the five hours down is you have to travel through the lake affect snow zone near Syracuse NY. I was meeting my parents to pass off the kids in Syracuse as well.

I had already been briefed on the lake affect snow showers I'd be passing through so I was not surprised when things started to look a bit hairy. Flashing signs said:  EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS.

Being a native New Yorker, that means slow down, turn on your lights, get ready to brake slowly so you don't skid, turn on your 4-Wheel Drive, and pay attention.

We turned off the radio, I asked the kids to be quiet, and I started to really focus on driving in the snow.

A tractor trailer passed by and it got suddenly much worse as the visibility decreased. I was happy to follow someone since tail lights were pretty much all I could see.

Two more tractor trailers pushed passed and visibility decreased. As the snow cleared, I noticed break lights ahead and started to slowly break. For some reason unknown, a plow truck was stopped in the middle of our lane and the person I was following was breaking to stop.

The dude behind me must have missed my break lights. As I didn't even know anyone was following me (white car!) I was very surprised to feel someone hit me from behind. It was more of a bump that anything, Not scary, but when I saw plastic start flying, I thought oh Crap! This is going to be NO fun.

We pulled over and soon figured out we were part of a larger accident that also involved a tractor trailer and another vehicle as well. Someone called 911 and we proceeded to wait.

I took the opportunity to take some photos.

My jeep is barely damaged, but I am sure it will still be costly to his insurance. The dude nailed my tow hook. See it there below? I do need a new frame for my license plate and also a new license plate light. ;-(

His car needs a lot more help! YIKES! We proceeded to wait for the police which turned into almost an hour. I figured it would take a bit due to how terrible the weather was, but turned out that he was told the North Bound lane of the divided highway vs. the Southbound. And since you couldn't see across between the two, he had to turn around to find us. 

I have never been in an accident, but if I was going to have one with my kids involved, I'll take this kind of bump any day. THE MAN questioned the kids later on the "accident" and they had forgotten it even had happened. They were too busy playing on their tablets in the back using a mobile hot spot. 

I was happy to finally get down to Corning MUCH later than expected that night and sit down for a nice supper at Applebee's with THE MAN and a mango Margarita. This napkin was under my drink. My sentiments exactly! 

Happy Monday to you, I'm off to call around for some quotes to get my baby jeep repaired!