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i've never placed much stock in any car i've had. my old '88 honda accord was quite amazingly ghetto/enjoyable though. it had a leaking sunroof which would sometimes pour in tons of rain after driving it for the 1st time after a big rain. sometimes it wouldn't. it was always a surprise. it had other quirks too, of which i'll spare you.
my current car is a '99 nissan altima, and we've been building a relationship for 3 years now. here it is, street-parked next to my boston apartment (this is 1 of 2 times in months that i havent had to parallel park):
most notable are our following adventures: (1) 50 hours of fall foliage driving; (2) driving from boston to atlanta and back, while almost dying in a multi-hour snow storm w/ no windshield wipers-- forcing me to drive on highway w/ head out the window; (3) car broken into twice...
and now, the latest addition:
the trunk release broke many months ago. my trunk key has never worked. so, i've had no access to the trunk for months. i fiddled around w/ it and learned how the trunk works.
if you slide this metal piece towards the right, the trunk will open.
i tied string around the sharp metal, while adding padding to prevent the string from unraveling.
i ran the string along the base of the trunk, bended it through a loop, then ran it through the back seats towards the front of the car. now, if you pull the string towards the front of the car, the trunk will open.
here i am in the driver's seat, turned towards the back.
it's nothing complicated; i just think it's kind of a funny system.
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my dad does self-employed woodworking for a living and has essentiallynever taken a day off in the last 30 years. so, i flew him up to boston for the first weekend of october. at that time, fall foliage is the best in the nation in nearby new hampshire and vermont. i chauffeured us around for 25 hours during those 3 days, with the intent of enjoying the foliage and 8 waterfalls.
the route:
the first day included torrential rain ALL day long, due to a nearby tropical storm. in fact, local rain records were set, yet we ventured on anyway:
the country roads were pretty empty, especially as we entered the white mountains -- no cell phone reception anywhere. when we pulled over to enter the occasional scenic areas, we'd encounter other photographers and nature lovers. as with any shared activity, there was a certain happy feeling and sense of camaraderie that aired during these hot spots. it provided a nice break from the sparse highway roads and heavy rains. everyone was polite and somewhat talkative.
the rain finally dwindled to a sprinkle as my dad and i entered the tiny gravel lot for sabbaday falls. the trail to the waterfall was only .3 miles, and it was clearly marked with nearby wooden guard rails. the waterfall we were about to see starts w/ a 8 foot drop into a smaller pool, which has a 20 foot drop, then finishes with a 12 foot drop. normally, it's pretty tranquil. today, it's anything but, for therain has made it unlike any waterfall i had ever seen. it literally poured probably hundreds of gallons per second.
as soon as my dad and i get view of the waterfall, i'm taken aback by its force. immediately, i look way up towards the top of the waterfall and see someone slip off of a rock and land right into the waterfall! it happened so fast, and he was facing me as he fell. i immediately scream, "Dad, someone just fell in!!" for a split second, my dad and i see the guy's head bob up in the pool that is 8 feet below. the water rushes hard, and we frantically keep an eye out. there were only ~5 other people out here near the gigantic waterfall, and we were spread out all over. i vividly remember two older women near me frantically scream as they grabbed the sides of their face.
my dad and i looked near the base of the waterfall, as did the others. we didn't see him, so we sprinted up the trail towards the head of the waterfall -- where the guy had fallen. we had all spread out very well. it was a huge panic, and communication was impossible -- due to how far things were and the loudness of the waterfall. my dad and i stayed at the head, but we saw no sign. we were convinced he was still trapped under some rock, either at the middle pool where we had seen him, or at the very bottom pool which received a constant whirlpool of water.
after a few minutes, we ran down to see the others. couldn't find any of the originals, but some new person informed us that people ran out to get cell phone reception to call 911. we had full reason to believe that NOBODY had found him yet. so, my dad and i race back to the waterfall and continue to look. we were the only ones around. after 15 more minutes, my dad and i accept the sad reality that there's no way he is still alive; just a few seconds under the water is enough to kill anyone. in fact, just the 40 foot fall on the rocks could easily kill anyone.
as we headed down, we found it very odd that not a single person had entered the waterfall in all of these 30 minutes. we discussed how ambulances must be at the beginning of the trail, and that they were preventing new people from entering. we were wrong. when we reached the parking lot, we saw new vans of families excitedly about to venture to the falls. not only were they clueless, but it appeared that NOBODY was aware of the situation. not a single person who witnessed it was around. where did they go? what happened? there appeared to be no resolution. there was merely the tragic event that took place, and nobody could be done, and nothing was done.
as we drove away, we saw the original 5 people across the road. we all talked. turns out, they had sadly seen him float downstream, which my dad and i somehow must have briefly missed. they said it was clear that the victim died instantly. they had tried to run downstream to keep up w/ the body, but it was often hard to keep track of it. the emergency crew finally found his body by 9:45 am the next morning.
the 64-year old victim was named Wilfred Chalut. he had walked over the guard rails to stand on a rock that neighbored the very top of the waterfall. i believe i saw a camera in his hand as he fell, and this would be a probable reason for his attempt to get so close. it was reported that his wife and daughter didn't see him as he fell, but had heard someone scream that someone fell in. it's very possibly that they had heard me, and that they were the two women who i saw exclaim.
here's a sad video of sabbaday waterfalls after we had given up hope for being able to rescue him:
it was wrongly reported in the news that he had merely fallen into the river. many news sites then copied this wrong info. for example:
