All photos © Steve Reinke

The Harpooned Suburban

We were coming back from a trip to Tecate, Mexico to visit our friends we work with on our mission trip (Sabre Missions) and we were coming through Phoenix. We were heading east on I-10 toward our hotel. Betty asked me what was hitting our windshield - rocks. I looked at a GMC 1/2 ton truck ahead of us and I saw his drive shaft bouncing on the road. Just then it came out of the transmission and hit our Suburban.

I saw this red stuff hitting our windshield and I thought the shaft had lodged in the front of the Suburban and was scrapping the pavement creating sparks. Right a that time the “sparks” started flowing down the window. I thought, “Great there goes our radiator.” Then I thought, “No the radiator fluid is green.” I realized it had hit the transmission cooler. Not good.

Betty’s first thought was, “Oh, great, he’s going to drive away.” No, it’s not a 4-wheel drive, so he’s not going anywhere.

We both pulled off at the next exit (the exit we were taking for the hotel anyway) and he pulled off there and we got the insurance information swapped. The drive shaft pushed the transmission cooler into the air conditioning condenser which was pushed into the radiator and then the fan. All of that was replaced and a new Clear Coat(r) finish was applied. The transmission fluid shot over the Suburban and covered it and ruined the Clear Coat(r).

These shots are of the damage. There is also a truck here that shows a fallen drive shaft. It’s a Ford and it was not the one involved in our accident.

We had stopped at the McDonalds(r) in Gila Bend for a shake. If we wouldn’t have stopped, we would have been ahead of the truck. If a car had been in our spot, it would have gone through the windshield of the car. The Lord used us to protect someone.

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