Wreck of the Kia Sorento

Thursday September 3, 2026, approx 0930 hrs. I was traveling northbound on Madison Ave in Muncie and stopped at the Main St intersection. I had the day off. I was enroute to Panera for some quiet coffee time with the Louis L’Amour novel in my back pocket. To my right is the MadJax building which completely blocks my view of the westbound one-way traffic. The traffic light turned green and I started to pull into the intersection. I had only crossed into the first lane of traffic when I heard a loud screeching that I recognized as rubber dragging across the blacktop. There was no time for evasive actions, I could only brace for impact. I felt the ‘thud’ and heard the ‘crunch’ of impact. Once I was facing north on Madison, I was now facing the northwest corner of Madison & Main. I put the car in park but left it running. I made a quick assessment of myself and found a tight pain across the center of my back. I could move all my limbs and there was no shooting pain down my legs or arms. I wasn’t worried about it. I also noticed that my airbags did not deploy and thought maybe it wasn’t that bad. 

Then at my passenger window which was halfway down was a short stocky man with wild white hair and beard. His hands were grasping the window. With an Appalachian accent, he asked “y’all kay? I’swear that laut wuz gren!”  I said I was fine and asked him to call 911. He left to call the police. I needed to call Jean, because I knew I was going to forget important information. My phone had left its stand and was on the dash where it meets the window. I called and told her I had been in a wreck at Madison and Main. She said she was on her way. I sat in my car, seat belt still on, podcast still playing on the radio. I tried to take it in. I looked for cameras at the intersection. I could see them at the next intersection but I was uncertain about ours. The vehicle that hit me was an older model red truck. Possibly one that I favor, analog with very few electrical parts. The red hood was higher than my hood. The passenger mirror was folded in toward the window. I couldn’t see any damage from inside the car. I really wanted to get out, but thought I should stay put until law enforcement arrived. Cars were slowly going around us. As one SUV drove around us on Main, the driver leaned out the window and said, “you can’t park there…” I burst out laughing. 

Muncie PD arrived. He checked on me. I confirmed I was okay. I gave him my DL and registration. He ordered us to move the vehicles to the side of the road on Madison. Crazy white beard backed his red truck away from me and then moved to the designated spot. I put my car in gear and started to move. There was grinding and I could tell the tire was not moving smoothly. I pulled in behind the red truck. I got out and sat on the short concrete wall that ran along the sidewalk under the shade of a tree. The front right quarter panel and part of the passenger door was noticeably wrinkled. The tire was sitting at about a 50 degree angle. By then Jean had arrived and started taking pictures. The officer talked to me about insurance, a wrecker, and some other stuff. I was really surprised at how much information I let slip away. I know I heard crazy-hair’s name, the make and model of his vehicle and other stuff the officer said, but nothing remained. I was thinking that I have enough training and experience in these situations, but my brain was just not retaining. The officer said we could go, Jean had all the important information logged in her amazing brain. She wanted me checked out. I was fine with that as long as it wasn’t the ER or Urgent Care. So I shook Mr crazy-hair's hand, no hard feelings, grabbed some stuff from the car and then left. Jean took me to get coffee. I don’t remember where. She then took me to Woodway to get checked over. Vitals were taken and poked all around my spine. The tightness and pain were most likely muscular, I was given a prescription for muscle relaxer and sent home. Insurance got us a car from Enterprise until the assessment on the vehicle was complete

Here is the scoop about the Kia Sorento. We needed to get rid of it. We were hoping to sell it. Jean thought $5000, I was hoping for enough to cover what we owe which was about $1800, with a little extra. At the time, I had about three weeks to get it washed, cleaned out, take pictures and post it for sale. It is not always easy to sell something in a time frame. I really needed to sell it before we left. I did not want to stick the boys with taking care of the car. Among everything else we had to do, it would have been one more thing to raise my anxiety and take precious time. So when we told the boys later that day what happened. Rhys said, “Well, that’s one way to get rid of the car. God took it out for you!” Rhys was right, God took care of it. We owe $1800. Kelley Blue Book valued it at $1700. The gap insurance would take care of the difference. The insurance adjuster would more than likely scrap the car. It would be a wash. The Kia Sorento was taken out of my hands. I was content with this and praising God for taking care of it.

Wednesday September 9, 2026 approx 1200 hrs. We were contacted by our insurance company, Progressive. We were informed that the car was valued at $5,500. Jean was crying and my jaw dropped to the floor. We could also keep the rental until Saturday. Then Enterprise contacted us and gave us an incredible deal so now we have the car until the 18th. Can we just praise God for a minute? I was totally fine with being rid of the Sorento. God blessed us by taking it off my hands, no one was injured, (my back is much better now) and we received more than we expected for it. Talk about His sweet provision. This is just one more example of how he has blessed and provided for us, just within the last year. *see the last several blog posts.

Philippians 4:19 states, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus"