Goodbye, Elantra..

A sad day has come. I had to say goodbye to my Elantra. Almost two weeks ago, Mason and I got into a pretty serious accident. We were coming home from Springfield on I-44 from a little pre-wedding shopping. There was a car on the side of the road, which we later found out had run out of gas, as the driver was one of the first responders. Mason went to merge into the left lane after looking in the side mirror. Unfortunately, he did not look over his shoulder because there was a Jeep Cherokee in his blind spot. By the time we realized what was happening we had already hit once. We believe that it startled the other driver so much that she swerved left and back right again, and we were positioned so that she was pushing us down the road nearly sideways. Keep in mind this was at 75 miles per hour. Luckily we didn't roll the car and Mason was able to maintain enough control to drive smoothly into the median. As we were coming to a stop we looked back and saw that the other driver's car was rolling. It rolled probably 2-3 times before it finally came to a stop. We called 911 while Mason went to check on the other driver. She was able to get out of the car and only had a few minor cuts, which is a miracle since she wasn't wearing a seat belt. The ambulance and other responders came shortly, and they took the lady to the hospital just as a precaution. As far as we know, she is doing fine, and didn't have anything other than some cuts and bruises, thankfully. We still felt pretty bad about it since we were technically the ones that caused the accident.

After assessing the damages to our car and realizing it was going to be totaled out, we found out it would cost a minimum of $2300 to fix the basic necessities (two new doors, new front fender, tires, and alignment). By the time insurance would go through we would probably have to pay roughly $500 or $600 out of pocket. Since it was a 2001 with nearly 140,000 miles on it, we decided to look around a little first. We found a 2006 Cobalt with only 84,000 miles on it. Yes, we will have to pay a little bit more than it would cost to get the Elantra fixed, but long-term it will hopefully be a better choice and last a little longer. I told Mason if he wrecked anymore cars, he was getting a bicycle to ride to work. He agreed. :)

As I write this, a lady is coming from State Farm to take the title, which is pretty sad, but it is what it is. It's been real, Elantra, but it's time to move on to bigger and greener pastures.

Aside from the craziness that Mason and I always seem to stir up, we are only 4 days from "The Big Day!" I can't believe it. Other than the whole car situation, I'm doing pretty well as far as stress is concerned. Even Mason and Duane have chipped in a little to help with cream cheese mints for the reception. What studs!

Gus helped too! :)

We are just excited to see everyone, have a great day, and then spend the following week relaxing in Mexico! See many of you soon!! :)