Living - and nearly dying - in Misery

Tonight, I hit a deer on my way home from work. I'm OK, but it was pretty scary. The collision went down something like this...

I had just crossed MO-19 where it intersects with MO-54, heading east towards Mexico. (I realize that some of you might be geographically challenged. Mexico the country is actually hundreds of miles south of us. Mexico, MO is like a 35 minute drive from COMO.) As I moved along, I suddenly noticed a deer...I hit the breaks...deer against windshield...skidded...deer flew off as if it was sucked away by a tornado...I stopped in the middle of the road.

I looked around and noticed that I was not in a good spot and needed to move. The truck behind me had stopped and luckily there was no traffic coming in the other direction. I pulled forward and over to the side of the road. The car seem to move and run just fine.

I got out to inspect the damage. The hood and grill were crushed, but the wheels and engine looked pretty OK. There were four or five huge cracks in the corner of the windshield, but it looked to still be intact. There was something splattered all over the windshield - maybe blood but most likely slobber. The best part is that a bunch of the deer's fur was caught in the grill.

The truck behind me pulled up and the driver got out to see if I was OK. I told him I hit a deer. He responded, "Really? I didn't see a deer." As I pointed to where I thought the deer landed, I noticed the deer on the opposite side of the road, hopping through the field as if nothing had happened.

I checked to see that my headlights worked and the guy in the truck followed me as far as Mexico. I then drove the rest of the way to COMO.

Somehow, the car ran fine. So, I figured I'd drive home and deal with it in the morning.

Then, about a half mile outside COMO, the engine began making funny sounds. I hit the hazards and pulled into a gas station parking lot. After getting hit up for some gas money and receiving permission to leave the car overnight, R came to my rescue and took me home.

In the end, I'll have to get my car fixed right away. So, you know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning. There goes another half-day of work. Friday's happy hour can't get here soon enough.

It's just another day in Misery.