Experinces

Its weird how a heard of elk could change the way you think about life, but it can. Not in a way where you realize nature's true beauty, but in a way that makes you appreciate the life you have and being alive. I had grown up knowing about these animals. We even have a festival every year called the Elk Festival. These animals were just a part of life for us.

I've always had a problem with speeding. I got five speeding tickets this summer alone, how I still have my license, I don't know. I think its just part of being a teenager. You feel like your ten-feet high and bulletproof, or at least that's how I felt. In my world I was the best driver there ever was, but I never realized how easy it could happen. You might be the best driver in the world, but accidents aren't always the driver's fault. You could have a blowout or be run off the road by a drunk driver. This event helped me to become a safer driver.

I was coming back from my girlfriend house one night, driving on a long, curvy road that I had driven almost everyday since I can remember. This was one of two roads that went town. We had been watching movies and it had gotten very late without us knowing. By the time I left her house, it was two in the morning. I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I was trying to drive as fast as I could, because that's just the way I drive and more importantly so I could get home before I fell asleep. It was a quiet night. I didn't meet anyone on the road the entire time. I could feel myself going to sleep. As every second passed I grew more and more tiresome. The wind was putting me to sleep as it hummed around my truck, and the curves would slowly rock me to sleep. I remember the silhouettes of the trees leaning over me the whole way home. Although I was cold already, I decided to turn on the air-conditioner so it would wake me up, but it didn't work. I would get so cold I would have to turn on the heater, by now I was in a trance, dreaming almost, thinking about all the things that had happened earlier in the evening, not really paying much attention to the road. I was about ten miles outside of Jasper when I come around a corner and I see some enormous figures in the middle of the road, I didn't have time to think. I didn't know if I was dreaming or not. I didn't have time to stop, and I didn't have anywhere else to go. It was either hit whatever it was or go off a thirty-foot embankment. I slammed