Last Thursday I went to Vegas, got a new contact lens prescription, and promptly hit a black bull on a moonless night in Dolan Springs.
For 22 years I’ve been telling people to watch for those black cows on the road …

My totaled truck
Just before mile marker 12, I saw the bull in my lane moving to the left. There was a ditch on the right, I moved to the left and I cannot recall seeing the bull on impact.
In fact, I saw NOTHING but grey smoke. The truck kept on moving, I didn’t want to break too hard and spin out, just tried to stop without running off the road. The truck was still running when I stopped in the middle of the road. I remember being worried about getting hit and after the smoke cleared I drove a few feet to where I could pull off the road safely, right in front of the mile marker.
I got out and looked at the truck, even wondered whether I couldn’t drive get it home (23 miles). Obviously, that was not happening. The stench and hissing of radiator fluid …
It even took me a while to find the emergency flashers, I rarely if ever needed them before.
Time to get a tow truck. I have Good Sam for towing, but they’re so incredibly cheap now, they don’t send you a membership card anymore. Incredibly, they DO send you cards when they try to get you to sign up, but not for a new membership.
I had to find my phone. It was on the passenger seat along with some groceries and stuff I couldn’t keep in the truck bed.
And I was thinking about how much the insurance would pay until I later realized that I don’t have collision coverage.
It was pitch dark, it was a black phone, and I started looking for a flashlight in the glove compartment. Couldn’t find one, kept feeling around on the floor and eventually realized that I could turn on the dome light. Duh!
It still took a while to find the phone as it had bounced off the dash into a grocery bag. And it hadn’t broken.
I had to look up the Good Sam website to get the phone # for road service. Called and got to an automated system telling me that they would text me something so I could do my claim by text. WTF!!!!!!!!
Hung up and called again and finally got to a person. She claimed that there was a repair facility 20some miles away and that I would have to pay $16 to get towed to my house. Incredibly, they would not arrange for the tow unless I paid them right then with a credit card.
EVIL SAM!!!!
What if I didn’t have a credit card like so many people here? What if my wallet had been lost in the accident?
So, I paid.
While on the phone with Good Sam, Randy, a resident who heard the impact, arrived and he called 911 for me.
I enjoyed talking with Randy while we waited for the deputy. He didn’t know of any repair shop anywhere outside of Kingman. And we talked septic, doing systems as owner, costs, etc.
I felt so awful for hitting that bull and did not want to see it. Randy said it was still moving, but by the time the deputy arrived, it had died.
The deputy had never heard of Pitbull towing, the company Good Sam called out of Las Vegas. I have no idea why they would do that as Kingman is so much closer. She did her thing, told me that I could get a police report in about 10 days, and left.
As cars kept driving over debris from my truck, I went to pick it up and then accidentally saw the bull and took some pics.
I was sitting in the truck when another car stopped to see whether I was ok. They kindly offered me a bottle of water and I got to meet Terra and Richard and their son. They had just recently moved to Dolan Springs and we had lots to talk about.
Pitbull didn’t show up until almost midnight. The driver had trouble finding me and they almost canceled because I didn’t respond to a TEXT. What’s wrong with these people? I didn’t hear the sound of the text in my truck while I was outside talking to Terra and Richard. Why don’t they make a CALL when it’s important? Not to mention that many people don’t text at all. The driver couldn’t find me. I was exactly at mile marker 12 on Pierce Ferry Rd, the ONLY paved road.
Good Sam initially REQUIRED a cross street. Did they want me to walk a mile or whatever in the middle of the desert on a moonless night until I get to the next dirt road off Pierce Ferry? IMBECILES! You’d think they’d have online MAPS.
The driver was very nice. Had never been here before. But unfortunately, the stress didn’t end. He got a call from his boss, Good Sam wanted me to pay another $100. I called Good Sam again. We did that SEVERAL times. I was so worried we’d hit ANOTHER cow as the driver was constantly dealing with the Good Sam crap. Eventually, I didn’t have to pay more out of pocket.
Since the truck wasn’t unloaded in my usual parking spot, it took me a long time to unload about $700 worth of groceries and stuff from Costco. Fortunately, I decided not to fill up my 4 gas cans at Costco as it’s cheaper in Meadview. All my stuff would have been soaked in gasoline. I will siphon the gas out of the truck before they take it away.
Fortunately, a friend told me not to start the truck as it could be spraying fluids all over, thanks, Gil!
It was after 2 am when I finally sat down after stuffing the cold and frozen food into the fridge. It barely fit.
And as tired as I was after major stress the night before, when I finally filed my response to the KRMC defendants’ motion to dismiss after doing practically nothing but work on that and water my garden for 7 days, I couldn’t sleep till after 5 am.
Was exhausted on Saturday after another night of not enough sleep. I called Progressive and was probably on the phone for about half an hour with a very nice lady, I think from Iowa or Michigan … some state with an “i” where they’re not used to cows on the road. I suggested that Progressive lobby our corrupt legislators to FINALLY move Arizona into the 21st century.
Next, I got a text from the claims adjuster and I was so glad I used my Google # and could type on the computer. 2.5 hours, although the last 30 minutes I was just waiting for her to tell me that we were finally done.
If I had been on the phone it would have been nasty. She told me to do this and that as if I was her secretary and insisted on screenshots of my phone call log. Not going to happen! I am determined to teach all these morons a little RESPECT.
8/22/22 update:
It was difficult dealing with Progressive and if I had a longer life expectancy, I’d look for a new insurer. Got so many more important things to take care of than getting new insurance.
How this accident could have been avoided:
- Get those cows off the road.
Hold the RANCHERS responsible for any damages caused by THEIR cows.
Why should WE pay so the RANCHERS can reap the profits?
- It should be ILLEGAL to take any cattle to feedlots to be tortured.
The animals are barely able to move, living in filth and stench that you can smell miles away (I-5). They are fed GMO feed with so many pesticides and toxins.
And once they gained enough weight for slaughter, they suffer more trauma and abuse.
Why would anyone eat that toxic meat?
Why are so many people lacking empathy, compassion, and mercy?
- I used to drive in the MIDDLE of Pierce Ferry Rd. at night.
If I had done so, I most likely would have missed the bull, as you can see from the damage to my truck.
I explained to my passenger on my previous trip back from Vegas in March why I was driving in the middle of the road after leaving Dolan Springs as we got into the hills. Since they put in those damned rumble strips, it’s highly annoying to drive in the middle of the road as you obviously have to get back in your lane when vehicles come towards you.
- Attorney Kathleen Elder for defendant KRMC refused to give me another extension for my response to her motion to dismiss.
I was extremely stressed due to the filing deadline and I didn’t get enough sleep the night before the accident. I had to get to Vegas to get a new contact lens prescription, had been waiting 2 weeks for an appointment. My prescription had dramatically changed, overnight, and I could hardly read on the monitor — which is why I needed an extension.
I finally got back down to Dolan Springs and that bull didn’t have a chance because as I thought, I was coming over the hill and he was right below me.
Tried to miss him and I almost made it.