Speaking of frost heaves...The Lewiston Sun Journal reported that a truck carrying chicken manure ran off Route 219 in Turner after it hit a particularly nasty frost heave last Wednesday (March 22), causing "something in the truck's front end to let go." Driven by Darren Gile of Livermore Falls, the truck made friendly with a utility pole, the wide free air 20 feet above the ground, and two trees before coming to rest on its driver's side.
"I had a death grip on the steering wheel," he said. "All I could do was hang on and pray to God. I'm lucky I'm alive."
As Gile so plainly put it, "That road is horrible. It's all frost heaves up through there."
The Sun Journal is careful to report that Gile "later crawled back into the wrecked cab to retrieve his glasses," no doubt through the windshield he had escaped through earlier to crawl up the embankment and call for help. His truckload of manure had been thrown 100 feet wide of the truck in the crash, causing a DEP cleanup the following day to ensure no contamination of local wells and groundwater could occur. He was kind enough to go home and take a shower before going to the hospital for x-rays, which I'm sure made the staff very happy (this man has foresight!). His leg did not turn out to be broken.
My roommate Salli was up in Union this past Sunday and took a fun drive on the backroads around Winthrop with the effect being something like a rollercoaster ride because of more frost heaves. Hang on to your hats!
Photo by Michael Eric Bérubé of anothermaine.blogspot.com.
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