Speaking of exciting...

Many, many years ago...driving a VW bug on the PA turnpike, about 1AM... constuction zone, one side of the 4 lane road was closed so all traffic was sharing two lanes for bi-directional traffic/ One lane each direction, with only plastic post/cones between the lanes, but a hard center divider on my right side

BIG trucks whipping by, buffeting the car as they passed..when all of a sudden the hood of the beetle gets blown up and opens!!!- Im doing 60- the hood instantly slams into the windshield, shattering the glass (later I will find that the hinges sliced through the metal cowling as the hood came up.)

Instantly I slam on the brakes.

WRONG. The spare snow tire sitting in the trunk is ejected to the roadway.... but at this point I am not doing 40... AND I RUN OVER IT. The tire catches somewhere towards the rear and the back of the car is propelled upwards.... meanwhlile I am trying to stay in the lane, trucks coming past, and looking out the side window to see where I am supposed to drive. The car goes up, then down..stays straight,,,bottoms out the suspension...

Anyway, get it under control, pull off when I can after the construction zone. Cars a mess. Look for the tire and a toolbox for the next 45 minutes. Dodging trucks on the road too. Lash the hood down and keep going.

It was one of the 'could easily have not made it' moments in my life.


A


PS Hadn't thought of that in many, many years. The construction zone thing reminded me.