On August 28th in Northern British Columbia, I was involved in a dramatic automobile accident!

As you can see in the photos above, my car slid upside-down for thirty yards before coming to a rest.

Observe the wreckage of my completely destroyed 4Runner.

Focus your attention on the severe damage, which is accentuated by the positioning of Ernesto’s face.

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A man came running up to help. A crowd gathered at the scene of the incident.

No human could have survived an accident like that.

Miraculously, I crawled out of the wreckage!

I had taken my T-shirt off and wrapped it around my bleeding hand.

I was still in a daze, trying to unscramble the mess in my head.

My brain was going: ‘Oh my gosh what just happened? Where am I? Why are all these people looking at me? I’m cold, where’s my shirt? Oh I remember, I tied it around my hand—Oh my gosh, I’m bleeding! Who are all these people?!’

Then I started freaking out about how I was supposed to reach Anchorage by August 31st. I was experiencing all the signs of physical shock, which made it really hard to cope with my emotions. So I just started crying.

The people were asking me what had happened. How had my car flipped over?

I had veered in my lane (or rather, the lane had veered, and I had continued driving straight). When my 4Runner was about where that white car is, that’s when I started to reach for a Goldfish Cracker…

When I looked up, my front right tire was already driving on the gravel shoulder. I fought to maintain control of the vehicle, but it continued driving straight down a roadside ditch for 100 yards. It then flipped onto its top and slid another thirty yards before coming to a rest.

The 4Runner was sitting in that ditch, right by the road, for two days. Nearly every car that passed that direction stopped to check out the accident.

Eventually I got a ride to a nearby resort town called Bell II, where I was able to get some first aid attention. After resting a couple of hours I was feeling better and I started running around trying to get my belongings organized. I ended up sleeping two nights there in a storage trailer.

While I was at Bell II, people kept coming up to the front desk of the lodge saying, “There’s been a terrible accident! Have the police been notified? What happened to the driver? Did he die?”

The receptionist would say, “That’s the driver right there.”

The people would look over and see me running around, organizing my stuff. My only noticeable injury was the scratches on my hand.

I met a guy named Fred, who was traveling with his wife in an R.V. Fred was astounded that I had survived the accident at all, let alone without any broken bones.

Fred looked at me with a big smile. He said, “There is a reason. Just remember, there is a reason why you were able to survive that.”

I was all nonchalant, like, “Yeah, yeah, I know it’s pretty crazy.”

Fred looked at me even more intently. “There is a reason why you have been allowed to live,” he said. “You must have some pretty important things to accomplish in your life.”

I looked back at Fred and said, “Thank you.”

When I was younger, I was a strong believer in acts of God. But as I have grown older, I have become more skeptical. Nonetheless, I was moved by Fred’s conviction. His words were a source of support for me, at a time when I needed it. I feel so incredibly fortunate to be alive right now.

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It took a day and a half to get a tow truck to arrive, because Bell II is out in the middle of nowhere. The tow truck driver was a friendly guy named Ed.

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The 4Runner was towed by Pronto Towing to the city of Terrace, British Columbia. The people at Pronto Towing were friendly and helpful.

I spent a week in Terrace, resting and looking for a new vehicle. My publicist, KereAna Buchanan, flew up to Terrace to help with the work. We met lots of fun people in this city. Look for photos in future posts.

KereAna traveled with me up to Alaska in the replacement vehicle.

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While in Alaska, we worked on getting all my gear organized. It was as though someone had put all my possessions into a giant blender, and then pushed the little button that says “Pulse.”

Ernesto eventually recovered from his wounds.

My iPod received some battle damage. As did the backpack with all the special compartments for different cameras and lenses.

I decided to wait to publicize information about the accident because I had the situation under control and I didn’t want the stress of trying to keep people calm. KereAna did a great job helping get things back into place. Nearly a month later, I can say that I have safely recovered, and my trip will proceed as planned.

However, I have decided to slow the pace a bit. My original plans were to make it to Mexico by Halloween. As things sit now, I won’t arrive in Mexico until December. I am currently in a hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. I will be flying down to Columbia in a few days to visit with a friend. While in Columbia I will be investigating the safest way to get a vehicle from Panama to Columbia.