THE ACCIDENT

As a young family in the Los Angeles area with two young children, paying rent and putting money in someone else's pockets was not what we wanted. Owning our own home was our goal. Did not earn much money at the time but managed to save up a small down payment to put towards a house. We could not afford a home in the Los Angeles area, so we looked at the high desert in the Victorville, Hesperia, and Apple Valley area. We found a small three-bedroom, two-bath home in Hesperia. The property was on 1.1 acres of land and was considered horse property. It was a house on 1.1 acres of sandy dirt, no plants, no grass, and no trees.

I slowly added a lawn, shrubs, trees, and fenced it off. My two boys were four and six years old, and I wanted them to take care of animals. We started with chickens added a rooster, African geese, ducks, pygmy goat, turkey, a miniature horse, potbelly pigs, and rabbits. Even dug a small pond for the ducks and geese and a hill for the goat to climb on. It was great fun for the boys growing up.

I needed to make ends meet even with a full-time job, the house bills, animal feed, and a little traveling made it challenging. Making extra money on the side is what the family needed. I started making wooden shelves and wooden crafts to sell at craft stores and craft shows. The money was great for extra income but very tiring even though I enjoyed it very much.

I purchased a small pickup truck and a small used enclosed trailer to transport crafts to stores and shows.

A few years later, a big show was coming up that we had much success in the past, so we wanted to make it even more profitable this time. For weeks I made things for the show and had plenty to take to sell. A couple of days before the show, I began loading up the trailer. There were so many crafts that it was getting packed in the trailer and much more massive. I was not sure if it was safe to have it so full.

On the day of the event, I got up early at 5 a.m., hooked up the trailer to the truck, and was ready to leave for the show. I was still concerned over the weight of the trailer. I needed to drive ninety miles to get there. I also had to travel down the Cajon Pass from an elevation of 4200 feet down to about 1200 feet. The truck was gassed up, and I was on my way. Driving south on the 15 freeway, headed toward the pass, and still worried about the trailer's weight. I started to descend the pass staying in the slow lane and feeling extremely nervous. Suddenly the truck started to feel like it was being pushed and started to sway back and forth a little at first, then bigger and bigger, I tried to slow down, but I was being pushed by the trailer almost as if the trailer was trying to pass up the truck. The truck started to fishtail, and I felt a big hit; another car had slammed into me. The trailer burst open, and all the crafts were strewn all over the freeway and busted into pieces. The truck finally came to a stop jack-knifed on the freeway's side just feet from the 100-foot drop. I should have followed my gut feeling about the weight of the trailer and not attempted it. Luckily no one was hurt; the trailer was demolished, damage to the other car, and my truck survived. I was relieved that my auto insurance covered the other car, the trailer, its contents, and any damage to the truck. It turned out to end my craft business for good.