Colorado Xmas Tree Mis-adventures or Plan B would have been better

Was pretty nasty today up in CO high country. White out at times with wind gusts. I've seen a lot worse and it was fun.

 

Is that a xmas tree farm you go to? Sorry we dont have such where Im from.

 

Gets better..............an hour before........................... this happened. Got F**king rear ended..........................Was waiting to turn onto Apex Valley Rd from Hwy 119 and got popped from behind. Corolla was totaled. A zillion 1st responders showed up. I've got zero frame damage. Right quarter panel AFU. Corolla clipped my left corner with its right corner. Tunny going in Monday to get repairs started. I did want to change out rear bumper........................

 

No tree farms up at 11K ft. Pure Colorado organic....heh...heh

 

That sux. Glad you’re alright.

 

No freakin way would I let a fender bender stop me from getting my tree. Manny got to meet most of the 1st responders. We got hit pretty good. Fortunately the posted speed is 45 mph and the woman who somehow didn't see my 7K lb truck was probably below that. Roads were wet but not snowing there yet. A couple hundred ft gain in altitude further up was pretty nasty.

 

That Corolla was a leased 2018...sheesh. After she plowed into me all her air bags went off disorienting her and the Corolla rolled backwards into a newish F-150. The driver was honking cause he couldn't back up with more vehicles behind him. The woman who hit me was pretty upset with herself and started crying. I told her it's just an accident and the main thing is she was alive. She did complain of sore ribs and I told her she will most likely be even more sore after a couple days and to go to the doctor asap. Paramedics did check her out.

 

Yeah, once you get to a certain altitude everything was socked in and coming down hard.

 

[QUOTE="Grey Wolf, post: 880461, member: Tunny going in Monday to get repairs started. I did want to change out rear bumper........................
[/QUOTE]
Matt,
Accidents suck, glad you and the others are okay.
What bumper are you gonna go with?

 

WoW Matt glad you’re all ok
Damn how tall is that tree

 

Matt,
Accidents suck, glad you and the others are okay.
What bumper are you gonna go with?[/QUOTE]


Not too sure now. I want to wait and see repair cost write up and see what I can finagle. Even the Progressive insurance rep for the woman that hit me said determining fault/liability is pretty much a no brainer when you get rear ended making a legal turn and with witnesses. My local Met Life Auto authorized repair facility turns out to be a good one. Service King. I drive by it every day going to work. Got rental confirmation already too. My local Enterprise is close to.

 

Maybe 8.5 ft.

 

After the fender bender I drove on up to Apex and started to head up to my friends property. Conditions got pretty bad. Decided it was wiser to retreat. Went back down to 119 and headed over to Pickle Gulch. That was nasty as hell too but three lifted Cherokees came out so I went up and wasn't too bad wheeling wise but just too damn windy. Couldn't see squat at times. I've been going up that area enough over the years to know when it's time to turn around. Don't want to use my winch that bad.....

 

The good thing about Apex today is there were a few rigs parked there and there were 4 or 5 snow mobiles out and about and actually headed up to where I'd like to go. Sometime you just can't do it with a truck. With Manny inside it changes a lot how I decide things. Also I don't like freezing my ass off either.

 

MGM Corolla vs Slate Metallic Tundra. So, speed difference not because of colour. Well crap, that means Corolla’s are fas..........



Crappy deal, hope it works out OK.

And yup, good call not pushing the limits in conditions like that with the little man along.

 

One less "black" Corolla actually. When I decided to forgo going on up to Michigan Hill a guy in a Chevy was coming up. I shook my head no and he too turned around. There were plenty of folks up there playing in the snow. Sometimes you do have to visually check things out. If conditions are sketchy then wait until next spring. Last year at this time the road up was dusty dry. Snowmobiler's heaven now.

 

Glad to hear everyone was okay!
National Forest trees are awesome!
My buddy always picks his out while hunting, and takes the Fam up later.
I love the natural trees. My neighbor 2 properties down has a tree farm so we go that route. Not as exciting as it used to be lol.

 

Oops, looked MGM in that lighting and with the road grime. Closer look does reveal a darker power.

 

119 was actually pretty good just wet at the time. The heavy snow fall was higher up. Snow at Apex wasn't that deep just windy at times to make it too nasty to be out long. People live up there so there was traffic coming and going. It's just the way it is up there. A hell of a lot more dangerous on I-70. The pic of the frame shows it to be flat. The impact was from the side of the frame. The left trailer hitch chain bracket is bent slightly in. The hitch itself is still square. The left front side of that Corolla is all plastic and aluminum. The hood is probably steel I'd guess. The car basically hit my left side and went under ripping up shit on that Corolla. I'll take a closer look in the morning.

 

Make sure your rear axle and alignment (especially rear thrust angle) get checked. I’m thinking your left rear tire took quite a bit of the abuse. Also make sure there’s no damage to your exhaust further up.

 

That's all scheduled to be done Monday. Exhaust is fine. The left side bumper and quarter panel absorbed the hit. It was a 50 mile drive back home and I noticed no difference at all.

 

Teaser....Getting repair estimate now............

 

$3865 parts, labour, and paint. There’s my guess.