Robyn Roste, Systems & Funnels

Moose vs Sunfire: A Love Story (Not Really)

This isn’t really a love story, it’s a scary story about what happens when the face-off is moose vs Sunfire on a dark highway in the middle of the night in Northern Canada.

Moose vs Sunfire

Today’s story isn’t mine, but it’s true. It happened up in Northern Alberta. In the winter. In the middle of the night.

I think you know where this is going.

Moose vs Sunfire: A Love Story

By Jered

Back in the days when I had long beautiful hair I had an adventure that involved a moose. I say the adventure involved a moose, but really, if not for the moose there wouldn’t have been an adventure to tell of.

So as I recall it was the night of December 21-22. I had just finished working a 12 hour shift somewhere around the Grand Cache area, packed up all my gear, and been driven and hour or two to Grand Prairie to pick up my car (a magnificent specimen of a 1995 Pontiac Sunfire) where my co-worker and I were going to drive to Edmonton as we both had flights home for Christmas at about 9 a.m. on the 22nd.

The guy who drove us to GP was keen on showing us his new place and i think by the time we actually got on the road it was somewhere around 1 a.m. At around 2:30 a.m. we were well on our merry way driving a stretch of road between Valley View and Fox Creek (which was incidentally called Moose Row) discussing the cosmos and ethics/etc. when there 20 feet in front of the mighty Sunfire was a moose crossing the centre line into my lane.

The crash

All I could actually see of the moose was its white legs the rest of it was as black as the surrounding backdrop of trees and midnight sky. There wasn’t much I could do in the time it took to cover 20 feet at 110 km/h and then there was the distinctive sound of of the age old battle clash of moose vs. Sunfire as I broadsided the moose and the windshield shattered and it became rather difficult to see where I was going.

Moose vs Sunfire and Jered

I was, though, able to see out of my driver door window and noticed that the ditch on the opposite side of the road was fast approaching, and recalling that there had been an oncoming car about 150 meters up the road and that I was now in their lane, I cranked the wheel to the right in an attempt to avoid a head on collision. And somehow it worked and I was able to get the car back into its proper travelling lane, however as I could not see out of the windshield I was not aware that the oncoming car had swerved into my lane to avoid me when I had gone into his lane.

The results

So as it turned out when we both eventually stopped we were half on the road half on the shoulder of the right lane, and about five feet from each other. The first thing I did was get out and go around to see if my travel companion was OK, though thinking about it now I suppose I could have just turned my head and asked him.

And he was OK, but quite shaken up and had received a knock on the head when the moose came down on top of the car. I was unscathed except for a few cut knuckles, which I figured must have been from when i cranked the wheel in my attempt to avoid the head on collision, as when I went to pull the car completely off the road the steering wheel wouldn’t turn very far because the windshield was pressed up against it.

It was a miracle we weren’t more injured

So to make a long story short other people came and stopped, the police arrived and ambulance arrived, my co-worker went in the ambulance to the Fox Creek hospital, I loaded all our bags into the police truck and met him at the hospital, where he had some scans of sort to make sure he was OK after the knock on the head.

The hospital staff was very helpful and tried to help us change our flights, but there were none available until the new year, so then they worked on finding us a ride to Edmonton, but the buses were long past running and there was only one taxi in Fox Creek at that time and he was busy, so a taxi came from Whitecourt (which I think was about an hour away) to fetch us after buddy was cleared to leave, and then drove us a couple hours to Edmonton where we arrived 30 min before my flight with 3x more luggage than I had planned on taking, which I was able to place in a storage locker, and then I somehow made it on my flight, flew home and had a merry Christmas. And so did my co-worker, though he was quite stiff and sore for a few days.

And as for the moose, well, it died. Eventually. Along the side of cold, lonely Moose Row. And as for the Sunfire, it died too, so I guess in the end it was a draw.

But I realize that most incidents involving cars and moose at 110km/h don’t have as fortunate outcomes, so I do count myself blessed and I am thankful to God for His looking out for me.

And that’s the story of moose vs Sunfire. The End.

More moose-related posts

This isn't really a love story, it's a scary story about what happens when the face-off is moose vs Sunfire on a dark highway in the middle of the night in Northern Canada.

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