Your incident w/ the deer is the reason I often prefer to rent a car for long road trips. "Hertz, I need another car."

Thanks for the great pictures. We had a great time at Stateline in South Lake Tahoe on our family reunion two years ago, but the 395 can be pretty harrowing in spots. This year we are headed to Angels Camp, on the other side of the mountains.

Ah! So you know Sweetie?

I kinda fell in love with her. She'd follow us up the hill, stopping occasionally to look over the edge. And when I stopped to take a few pictures and Laura kept going Sweetie stayed between us, as if she was watching out for us both.

And the way she hopped back into the car for a ride to the bottom. Like she knew just what she was doing. Resting her head on the console. She even knew how to drink from a bike water bottle.

Strange thing happened to me while 38 to onyx this last Sunday. I actually saw the car hit the deer and through it in the air. Not nearly as much damage as your car. Mostly just glass the couple was pretty stunned.

That happened on US395 about 1/4 mile south of Tom's Place. My speed may have been a big factor, as I was going about 60-65 MPH, and didn't even have time to get my foot on the brake before it was over. It was a relatively small deer, too ... kinda like this cutie.

Good thing about the size. Had it been a full sized buck the outcome may well have been different, meaning far worse.

Tell me about it ... deer strikes are dangerous. Bad enough I feel guilty about killing Bambi.

BTW, the damage was $5.5K. Not enough to total the car, thankfully.