In my defense, I was not driving when the truck was parked. We pulled up in front of the house, and I did notice the hydrant, but then immediately forgot about it. I sat in the truck while R did his thing (he was looking at and then test-driving a donor car for my Triumph). When he got back, he told me he was buying the car, which meant I'd be driving the truck to his house. No problem.
The place where the truck was parked was in a wide spot on the side of the road. I did have to get out of the truck and walk around to the other side - and get the keys from him because they were in his pocket - but the hydrant didn't even register. I got in, started the truck, put it in 1st gear, and started to take off.
The truck is sort of not my favorite thing to drive. I am more than proficient at driving a stick shift, but I don't like it much. And when I drive the truck after a while of not driving it, it’s always a little frustrating because the clutch’s catch-point is so far up that I end up revving the engine too much before it catches.
So, there I was, revving the engine, trying not to kill it, and I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I kind of just let the clutch go. I didn’t think it would be a big deal, as the road ahead of me seemed totally clear. But then I came to an abrupt halt. Then I backed up. As I was backing up, the first thing that came into view was the hydrant. Then I noticed that there was a railroad tie in front of the hydrant. I thought to myself, “ok – I hit the railroad tie. That’s smart – someone must have hit the hydrant before, so they put the railroad tie there to stop idiots from running into the hydrant. Good idea. No harm, no foul.”
I proceeded to pull out into the road, drive down a little ways and do a u-turn, then caught up with R, who was waiting for me, and we went on our way. He was driving the new car, and it’s low-ish, so I figured that if I HAD hit the hydrant, he’d see the messed up bumper in his rear-view and say something. He didn’t call or anything, so I got even more convinced that I hadn’t hit the hydrant.
I followed him for about 5 miles, with some traffic here and there, but for the most part I was right behind him the entire way. When we made one of the last turns before the freeway onramp, I got in the lane next to him, and was going past him when he looked over and kind of did a double-take. I thought it was odd, but had already forgotten about my concerns. Then he pulled up and motioned me to pull over. I swear, I honestly thought that he was having problems with the new car.
When we stopped, he came to the window with this wide-eyed look on his face and said, “What Happened!?!” My response was, “What do you mean, ‘what happened’?”. Seriously.
I got out of the truck, looked at the bumper, and said, “Oh, shit. I guess I did hit the hydrant after all.”
For about 10 seconds, the range of emotions that crossed his face was scary. I thought he was going to be mad, which made me panic, and I started to cry. Which made him laugh. Which made me cry harder. Which made him hug me and laugh harder. I totally love that man.
I felt terrible, and still do, and he’s now looking for replacement parts.
And now you know.
