Ok, so I have been not updating the site since I have not really been working much in the office and basically not in the field since the start of the year.
Back on Jan 5th, a trucker driving a Freightliner lost their brakes on their truck on Interstate 94 when I was heading towards the Twin Cities metro to do some shopping. Unfortunately before I left that morning I cleared out the always on dash camera memory card and formatted it but failed to cycle the power to get it to begin recording after it was cleaned from the prior days driving. Yeah I was pretty pissed when I found out nothing was recorded. Since I was not chasing, the big dash camera was not on recording anything so alas, it is just a memory for me. I credit the fact that when the big truck lost control on interstate and slammed into the passenger side and pealed it open like a tin can as it slammed me up into the rock hard snow along the center barrier of the interstate, the tires I had just installed helped me keep traction and control to not spin, flip or roll. And some driving skills on my part.
After the accident I did however get the other driver saying on my Sony A7R4 when I was documenting what happened for the insurance that it was his fault and that he lost his brakes since his boss was in another truck that was following him. It was a commercial vehicle and as of now their insurance is covering things for the loss of the truck and medical bills.
What really does suck is that it did take out the Toyota Sequoia that was all setup to be the chase vehicle this spring. I just got it ready for spring with all the necessary work including new tires and suspension work and flush of all the fluids.
So, what does this have to do with not posting? So driving along minding my own business and the truck next to me lost its breaks, slams into me and I saw it coming since I was trying to avoid it and was like WTF is this dude doing creeping into my lane as I moved to the left towards the shoulder and he kept coming and bammm… Yeah it was like one of those scenes of oh crap, this is going to hurt and tensed up. Well my Chiropractors here in St. Cloud that I have been seeing to keep my back in place for years pretty much told me tensing up before the wreck was the worst thing I could have done. Yeah sure, you try not to tense up when your driving a Toyota Sequoia (BIG SUV) and a truck that dwarfs you, runs you off the road and then hits you and slams you around. So, my back got messed up.
Now it is back to the non stop headaches that pretty much made me extremely irritable that are still plaguing me going on four months. Also the right side of my back from the mid back down to the right hip has been locked up where pretty much just in pain constantly so making long drives is really not in the cards for me. I did do the Chaser Summit drive and that took a lot of Advil for that trip and yes I hurt like a MOFO after that trip which pretty much made me gun shy to any long road trips for the foreseeable future. .
Why don’t I just get some drugs, some “fun pain killers” and numb the pain? Yeah um no, no thank you. I need to be mentally sharp and not strung out on narcotics. Plus I can’t fly a drone if I’m on any drugs other then Advil. And I just don’t want to be doped up and strung out “Comfortably Numb” when I Choose Freewill.
What I have been doing for the last three months is simple, instead of seeing the Chiropractors 1-2 times a month just to keep things in check, I have been forced to go their so fn much that it’s really becoming extremely annoying and look forward to the weekends when I might be in more pain but I can focus on family and work without spending 60-90 minutes a day, 3-4 days a week going into the Chiropractors to get adjusted, acupuncture and having my back muscles worked on to try to get them to relax. Add in the fact that the Covid scare is still not over, having to go into a public place like the Chiropractor is just a little nerve racking on top of the back pain stress.
I have estimated that I have lost at least 60+ hours of work time just in the office and I could forget about being able to cover the rest of the winter season for blizzards in western Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas or chasing the early severe down south in Iowa. Yeah this pretty much took me out of the game for at least until May, if not through the summer.
And the other really crazy part is just shopping for a new vehicle to replace the Sequoia. With the shortages, it is pretty much impossible to find a vehicle that I would use to replace the Sequoia since I knew all the maintenance that was done and made sure the timing belts and other required maintenance was competed. Every Sequoia I have looked at since has not had the required work and some even look as if they went 15 years without the timing belt being replaced (01-07 Toyota 4.7L engines) which if they did not replace the belt, you know they did not flush and fill the fluids or suspension work.
So right now I’m pretty much in a medical induced chasing doldrums until I can safely get back out without worrying about throwing my back out in the middle of nowhere. On a plus side, I might be renting out my camera gear this season to my crews to shoot on some high end gear since it looks like I might be still dealing with this through May. I pray I can get things back in order on my back by the time Hurricane season ramps up.
The other plus side silver lining is Laura is really enjoying having Dad around all the time.