From: Clifford Kellogg
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 8:30 AM
Subject: Accident – we’re okay!
Susie and I were involved in a head-on collision yesterday morning at 8:30 a.m. in her 2006 4-Runner. I was driving at the time. Roads were wet. We were traveling northbound on Pala-Temecula Cutoff approaching a curve when a guy driving a late-model Toyota sedan coming the other way lost control and wound up in our lane. Both vehicles were doing approximately 40 mph. Our car ended up perpendicular across the centerline, the other car stopped with the driver’s door against the guardrail on our side of the road. As soon as I determined that we were both okay I tended to the other driver.
Then Susie and I started traffic control. Susie, the other guy and I sustained only seatbelt burns and airbag bruises. We’re both pretty sore today. The other driver was uninsured.
Pala Fire responded. The engine captain was the brother of Cleveland National Forest Battalion Chief Wes Ruise. The investigating officer from CHP remembered me from the motorcycle accident that PMVFD responded to on South Grade on Thanksgiving Day. We both thank Palomar Mountain resident Don Phelps who happened to come along just after the accident and waited around for us. He took us to our daughter Lucie’s house where I could call our insurance company and get set up for a rental car. Special thanks to Lucie for icepacs and TLC. I suspect our vehicle was totaled, the other guy’s car certainly was. We had the weight advantage. Thank God for air bags and seat belts. We took a really bad hit yet all three of us could walk away.
Cliff Kellogg
Batt. Chief, PMVFD
Palomar Mountain News 