Ol Smoke Posted July 30, 2013 Posted July 30, 2013 (edited) Dedicated to Danny. After the wreck of the '50 Ford in New Mexico, we made our way to Dierks, Arkansas. We lived there for a short time, then moved to Silsbee, Texas. Then moved a few months later to Crossett, Arkansas. Dad got a job in Yreka, California building a new planer mill for the lumber mill there. So we packed up and left Crossett. This time we had a large chest freezer that we didn't have before and our dog was full size. The parakeet and cat died somewhere in Arkansas. Now, because my dad built planer mills all over the western states, he had built up quite a tool box. He had one made by grandpa and it was 3 feet long 2 feet wide and over 2 feet high and weighed about 400 pounds. (True) So when dad went to get a trailer he saw a new type that would work better. It had four wheels on two axles, but the front axle turned and the rear axle was near the back of the trailer. Just like a wagon that a child would have. So we loaded it up and at the very end of loading was dad's big tool box and stacks of glass jars and canned produce that my mom had put up. Now you have to picture this from the rear of the trailer, looking forward. On your left at the bottom is the tool box. All of the jars and some clothing boxes are to your right, stacked up about even to the rails (4 feet). So dad then builds a wooden pen on top of the tool box to house our dog. He puts an old crib mattress in the bottom with a bunch of old blankets. We plan to stop every four hours or so to water the dog (Danny) and let him potty. So now we are on our way to California along Route 66 again. We get out of Arkansas and get into Texas. We have traveled the better part of 24 hours so far. We come out of this little town, after filling up with gas, and we go down into a tiny dip in the road and just as we get out of it, the trailer starts swaying right to left all over the place. I am on the left side of the rear seat and I wake up to see what is going on, when I see this big yellow thing coming straight for the window. I leap all the way over my sister into my brother's lap on the other side of the car. Wham!! the trailer hits the side of the car, then it heads for the other side. Now my dad was an experienced truck driver so he was doing okay controlling this thing, but it hit a big lip on the edge of the highway and flipped over on it's side and slid into the back of the car. Dad immediately gassed the car to get out of the way. Well, the trailer came to a stop on the side of the road, lying on its left side. We all thought that Danny was dead. But when dad opened the lift gate and flipped back the tarp, Danny was just sitting there on the side of the trailer inside his pen. So we kids got him out hugged him and stuff, but all he wanted to do was pee. So we sat there on the side of the road a few minutes while passersby stopped to give us a hand. A big tow truck came and got the trailer and towed it back to the town we just came through. The tow truck/garage guy and my dad worked on the trailer for many hours and got things to working good. The trailer wasn't really damaged except for the wood rails that held everything in. But he and dad built new ones, and re-built all the bearings and straightened the tongue and tested it out. It seemed perfectly fine. The only damage to our stuff was a box of mom's canned goods broke. So we ate what was left of the box that weren't broken and we dusted ourselves off and on the road again. We are a good 12 to 14 hours behind now so it is not going to be a leisurely trip this time. We have been on the road for about 12 hours and dad has checked the trailer several times and all seems okay. We are in central Texas now and just cruising along. Suddenly the trailer starts to swerve side to side again for no reason. It heads for the ditch and pulls the car sideways with it, dad turns the car away from it and snaps the hitch off and the trailer hits a culvert and flies into the air and lands on it's top and then comes back onto the hiway and passes us on the left side of the car. It then goes down into the ditch and stops. Dad turns the car around and drives over to the trailer. People are stopping everywhere to check it out. But, all we kids are interested in is Danny. Danny's dead! Danny's dead! Is all we can say. Suddenly we see blood coming out of the back of the trailer. Hurry dad! Hurry dad! Danny's hurt! Dad tears the gate off the back of the trailer and stuff falls out and then we see Danny.....standing on top of Dad's big toolbox, panting. But he is covered in blood. Danny! Danny! We cry. But then, wait, it's tomato sauce and canned tomatoes on him. Danny is okay! We kids are all crying and shouting Danny is okay! Danny is okay! We went over, with our mom, to wait by the side of the road, in the shade. Mom helped us clean Danny up and give him some water. He really didn't seem any worse for all that he went through. Then we started looking at each and going...How did he survive back there? Dad's big tool box crushed the pen he was in, and the jars boxes are all still where we put them. How did he wind up on top of that tool box? The truth is... we never knew, except for the grace of God. We started this trip with everything we owned. After the trailer flipped over, everything was crushed and we ended up with a small 6 foot covered trailer. When we got to Yreka, we bought some new and some used stuff to start over again. We wouldn't have another freezer for about 4 years. We lost a lot in that wreck. Nationwide paid us very little for our loss. Danny made several more trips with us and was always with me everywhere I went. Then one day when we were living in Bly, Oregon a neighbor kid and his brother decided to shoot at him with a .22 rifle. They killed him. I have never gotten over the loss of Danny and I am crying even now as I write this story. In the picture below, he is behind me on the ground, on my left, in the shade. He was never far from me...ever. Addendum: After our wreck was printed up in a local newspaper, Nationwide pulled all of those "Wagon Type" trailers. I forgot the panda bear. "Andy Panda" as my sister called him was the last thing we loaded onto the trailer. He was on top of some stuff under the cover tarp. After we settled down a bit after the wreck, my sister looked down the road where the trailer had flipped over and there was this white fluffy stuff everywhere...yep..it was the innards of Andy Panda. The only fatality. Edited July 30, 2013 by Ol' Smoke 1 Quote
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