Oh Deer!

Scott got his first deer in Idaho a few days after Christmas . . . with our CAR!

About ten minutes after we left the cabin we hit Bambi's sister. We were on a narrow mountain road when our headlights illuminated two deer. I saw them first (Scott was looking ahead several feet, concerned about some red lights he saw (we still don't know what they were)) and screamed, "DEER!" Scott slammed on the breaks, but of course at 60 mph, it was too late.

The kids were upset. At first for the deer's sake, and then for the damaged car.

Everyone asked if we killed the deer. We weren't sure. We didn't stop immediately because there were cars coming behind us and there wasn't anywhere to pull over. I like to think that our deer was killed quickly, but what could we have done otherwise? We finally pulled over in some ranchers driveway to look at our car and almost got stuck in the icy snow.

Gratefully, we were able to drive to Provo that night and then a couple of days later to Albuquerque. We were blessed that the roads weren't icy where we were and that other cars were not near us at the time. From what I hear, deer hittings can cause much more damage than we had.

Our car is in the shop. Our insurance adjuster initially estimated a little over $2000 in damage. Scott and his dad wired the hood shut before we drove to Albuquerque to prevent furthur accidents, and the insurance adjuster didn't want to undo it since we had to drive the car for another week before the shop could take it in. He's sure there is additional damage inside.

We are very grateful for our safety on this trip. If only we could say the same for the deer.