Ragnar is the overnight running relay race that makes testing your limits a team sport. A team is made up of 6-12 individuals; each individual runs 3 legs. The legs of the race vary in difficulty and distance, from 3-8 miles, allowing elite and novice runners to run together. Over 2 days and 1 night, teams run across 200 miles of the country’s most scenic terrain. Pair that with crazy costumes, inside jokes, a great finish line party and unforgettable stories. Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it Ragnar.
Dallin and his friends from Skyline High decided to do this a while ago. Swagnar was their team. President McKinley was driving a van we thought Dallin would be riding in so we thought it would be OK for Dallin to ride with the team as a volunteer at one of the stations. We did not realize he would stay up all night following the van in his car and then try to drive home. I wish I would have checked this out more thoroughly but as Dallin reminded us hindsight is 20/20. Dallin told us the night before that he would be driving to Wickenburg then parking and just driving from there home. Not that he'd be driving all night and then try to drive home.
So after leaving at 3am the day before and having very little catnaps in between he left Ragnar to take home his friend, Chase Anderson and then come home. He fell asleep in the left lane on Red Mountain freeway and went into the median and hit several poles and cables and then drove to a stop. Because he and Chase were relatively unhurt he called Wes and then called Mr. Bridgers, the driver of the team van that left after them. Neither Wes nor Mr. Bridgers thought to call police at this point. Wes was at counseling with Brookly and I was at Stake Women's Conference. As I got to the table for the luncheon as was literally the last in line I was worried a little about the fact that the food was gone until I got a call that changed our course of the day. Wes told me Dallin had been in an accident and was Mr. Bridgers was bringing him home. They ended up going to unload and then Dallin went to Brandon's to wait for Wes instead. Wes asked me to call AAA and they said they couldn't do anything without us at the car.
As I tried to sort out the few details we knew Wes suggested we call Tyler Hyer our friend from Ocotillo Ward who is a cop. We did and then we called Mesa PD. As we called them and were on the phone they called us to tell us the car was being impounded. We got a call from the insurance and then another from DPS to Wes that instructed him to bring Dallin down to Skyline to meet. The officer told Wes that he'd talked to Dallin's probation officer and would be as lenient as he could be. Wes left out this detail as he rushed off to meet with them. I just knelt and prayed that Dallin wouldn't be arrested after calling Bro Hyer myself and asking about what may happen. Dallin could be charged with the criminal damage as a Class 2 Misdemeanor and he left the scene.
Blessed we were greatly that Dallin is 17 and that when they got there they quickly cleared up that Dallin was not on probation for disorderly conduct as the officer said when they arrived. He was a cowboy type and was kind. He only cited Dallin civilly for the damage to the freeway and of course a ticket and traffic school for failing to control his vehicle to avoid a collision. That we can handle. I had pictured him being arrested and was pretty worried. The Lord truly watches over us and blesses us in our time of need.
I got a call at home from Progressive and they said we'd sort it out Monday.
So Monday Bro Wilkins, in our Bishopric and our Home Teacher, went with his trailer to Scottsdale and Dallin drove Wes's truck to school and picked up Wes from work early to get to Scottsdale where the officer told them the car would be. It wasn't. They had to go to Mesa and pay $224 which was twice the cost they were told because the police called to impound the car. Craziness! This car is so beat up that Wes says it may not be economically feasible to fix it. We put $800 in it last week for a new clutch. At that point last week I said it was time for a different car but Wes wanted one more repair to get Dallin through graduation. It wouldn't have made a difference except if it was a nicer car we may have had more than liability and had some sort of replacement cost. Who knows what this will do to our rates. The insurance guy won't tell us until it renews in 6 months. Oh joy!
Through it all we are most grateful Dallin is just sore and alive!! It will all work out!
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