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On the same road last Monday. Same direction, same clear conditions.

This time we were in our motorhome going North for a few days along the gulf coast. Planned for a day or two in Port O'Connor, then on to Port Lavaca, then further inland.

About a mile North of our first problem a while earlier, there was a rattle-trap pickup enterin the road about 500 yards ahead, but was staying on the shoulder. It looked like he was carrying a load of the old size bales of hay, stacked high.

I guess he decided he had enough speed to join traffic, so he pulled into the left lane about 300 yards ahead of us, not really increasing his speed. Then he decided to gun it. His load started to fall into the roadway just ahead of us. Now we could tell he was carrying a load of crab traps made of yellow colored chain-link fence material, which is why I first thought it was hay.

A quick glance into my left mirror indicated fast moving traffic, so I could not to there. For some reason the driver losing his load decided to stop in the right lane. Traps were still bouncing everywhere across both lanes and the median. I had a small clear area on the shoulder, so I decided to take that.

Almost got cleanly through, but did hit one crab trap. It went under the motorhome, but did not come out the back. I pulled onto the shoulder, reviewed my circumstances, realized all traffic behind me had stopped on both lanes, which were blocked. Gave a quick 911 call to get someone to help clear traffic and decided to try to back up a few feet to see if I could get the trap clear of my undercarriage.

That worked. My wife grabbed it, and gave it a toss. Had this been an olympic enent, she would have won a gold medal for distance, but not for style.

We have now marked our maps to avoid this road for at least six months, even if it costs us time and distance.

Overall a good trip. Wound up at Lake Texana just outside Edna. The Jackson County Fair was just opening, and we took a chance.

Price was decent. $5.00 a head go get in, free parking. Did not do much, but had a good time. Saw a guy carve a bear out of a cedar log, ate a funnel cake, and got me some sugar on the ferris wheel when it stopped at the top. As I said, overall a good trip.

A few weeks ago my wife and I were making a short trip to the 'next' town, about 15 miles away. We entered onto a state divided highway heading North . Middle of the afternoon, sunny bright and dry day, posted speed limit of 70 mph.

As we were not in a hurry, I set the cruise for 65, loafing along in the right (outside) lane. Only a few cars, traffic was very light.

After about a mile, I caught a glimpse of a shadow in my rear view mirror, then BANG. Got rear ended almost centered just to the left of center on our hatchback. This was almost a pit manuever as seen on TV. How I kept control is still a mystery, but we got to the right on the shoulder, then moved a few more feet to the right to insure lots of clearance from traffic.

My wife seemed to be somewhat shaken up, so I called 911 for assistance. As an aside, I had to call two mores times to be sure someone was comming, and the total time was just over 15 minutes. My son-in-law and daughter were shopping in a Lowes about 5 miles away, and after calling them, they got there before a LEO or medical help.

Blew all the glass out of the rear of our Honda Fit, smashed the liftgate, banged the whole back end in, and curled a part of the left rear frame in on the tire.

A state trooper pulled up (DPS) about the time the ambulance arrived. The lady that hit us had gotten out of her double cab F250 and said that she did not see us. Give me a break. The car is Texas Burnt Orange, and I don't think there is a brighter color available.

The EMS crew checked my wife over, and said that she did not need to be transported at that time, but be sure to see her primary care doctor the next day.

A wrecker came to load my Honda for a trip to their yard for storage. While all this was happening, I asked the DPS officer if he could provide me information regarding the other driver. He gave me a paper in his handwriting with her name and insurance information and his signature.

As it takes a few days for the data to get into the DPS system, we were not able to get an incident report for five days.

NO CITATION was issued. The auto dealer with my vehicle told us that the other vehicle must have been going at least 85 MPH to cause the damage we incurred.

I still have the handwritten note from the DPS officer with his information. Should I contact him, or his office, to see why no citation was issued. Everything MAY work out as the driver that hit us did have insurance, the same company that we have.

Should I just sit back and keep quiet, or try to get some additional information. It appears my wife will be in treatment for a number of weeks. I should mention that she was released from an ICU the previous day after a four day stay in the hospital.

I would think a minimum of failure to control speed, or something similar would be in order. The other person did a 'lane drift' of at least six feet to the right to have hit us where they did. Inattention to driving or something.