Scariest thing to happen to us in 2013

I posted this on facebook but some of you might not have seen it. Actually, anyone on here probably did see it on Facebook.

 

Scariest thing to happen to my family in 2013!

Thursday January 3rd. We started the day in Dutch John, UT, drove to Vernal, Provo, and Salt Lake City and flew to Nashville via Denver. We left Nashville about midnight. About 1 am Friday morning (late Thursday night) I was driving us to my Mom's in KY. As we approached the exit off I-24 to US 41A I was using the cruise control and doing about 75 mph..., I tapped the brakes and nothing happened. I knew I was going to fast but I didn't want to miss our exit so I exited and tried them again and nothing happened. I got confused and the following thoughts went through my head.
1. I am tired and confused so the brake must be on the right and the gas on the left. (OK, now you see how asleep/zoned out I was.) I tried the gas. That did not slow us down.
2. The brake and the gas do the same thing.
3. Use the cruise control to slow us down.   I tried that but we were going downhill so nothing happened and when I released it, it caught again and felt like we were speeding up.
4. I am going to kill my family at the end of the exit. Several different ways popped into my head in that split second. The exit was a long slight bend to the right followed by a bend to the left and then straight. As I negotiated the first bend using all of the road, Sheila said "slow down", I said "I can't", Sheila "Are the brakes gone?" me "I don't know!". That was all within a few seconds. As we start the left bend, I remember we are driving a standard and grab the shifter and rip it out of 5th gear and put it into 3rd (using my right foot to depress the clutch) which slows us down a bunch. At that point, I realize that the brake pedal is between the clutch and the gas pedals and I finally use the brake. Yes, I had been pressing the clutch all of the time. We stopped in the area between the merge right lane and the stop before turning left lane. I was shaken up but we were alive. In the whole thing I only moved my left foot at the very end. It was the most scared I have been in a long time.
The rest of the trip was uneventful.

 

Additional stuff not on Facebook.  I never felt like I was nodding off so I never realized how "out of it" I was. I am a big believer in "do not fall asleep behing the wheel".  I would normally just stop and let Sheila drive. That is another scary part of this. It snuck up on me completely. Since I have been driving for about 37 years, you would think that I knew what an emergency brake was. I never thought about the emergency brake a single time. I hope you do if you are ever in this situation. Lastly, I was really, really scared during the event and immediately after. I am just now beginning to feel good about the fact I did get the car stopped and we are alright. I hope this is the worst scare for the whole family for many years to come. Love and Kisses. See you in May.

What up Ninjas? Well thank you once again for another awesome and fun Morton Family Christmas. It was a blast despite Angel and Johnita's attempts to ruin it. Just kidding. Angel we are all extremely excited about little Molly Ann. Congratulations, that is awesome. Johnita, we are sorry about your appendix and are very glad that you still have an appendix present in your body because that means the baby is doing good. Good Luck with things. I do appreciate the good times we have together as a family even if I am a little bit of a trouble maker at these things. I also am glad that Charlie and Sheila are such big gaming nerds, because I love playing games. I know a complain a little if the game lasts all night, and when Sheila does not explain all the rules so that she has and advantage, but I truly do like playing these games. So we pretty much have the awesomest family this side of the Mason Dixon. I would also like to congratulate Ross, not just on winning the family over-unders, but by absolutely demolishing everybody else. With that said here is a new list of questions for 2013. I am going to keep going with the baby questions because now everybody but Dad, Ross, and Ruby are in the baby game.
1. There were three new babies born to the Morton family in 2012. Including Johnitas will there be over or under 2.5 born in 2013?
2. Besides Johnita and Colin who will be the next couple to have a baby?
3. What will be the total combined length of all babies born into the family in 2013?
4. Who will have a better Grade Point Average, the Students taught by Sheila, Johnita, and Angel, Or all the grandkids that attend school?
5. In 2012 several families traveled great distances for vacations, Tennessee, Oregon etc. Will there be over or under 5.5 Families that travel out of the state they are living in for vacation? Dad and Ruby count as seperate families.
6. Our family is notorious for running late to importan events. In fact several of the baptisms and baby blessings were cut close by several siblings. With 1 upcoming baptism, Abby, in 2013 will there be over or under 3.5 of the siblings that miss the opening prayer?
7. How many new vehicles will be purchased in 2013?
Here are some which will happen first questions. I will give you two options, and you choose who you think will be first to accomplish their feat.
8. Will Sheila win a board game at a convention? Or Will Sean win a city league Soft ball Game?
9. Will Ross start and finish a book? Or Will Ruby Start and Finish a play?
10. Will Carl and Jennie have a Baby? Or Will Angel and Waynes Baby learn to walk?
11. Will Johnita and Colin have their Baby? Or Will Clint pass his Infrastructure Inspector Test?
12. The past few years during the family Christmas party it seems that somebody spends some time in the hospital. Jessie with her leg infection, Lexi getting Nurse Maids Elbow, Johnita with her absessed tooth and her appendix, Angel with her party crashing Baby? Will there be somebody that spends time in the hospital for the 2013 Christmas party and Why? Creativity receives extra points.