How not to pass a tanker truck

Monday November 9th was a crazy day. I had taken Brooke to an orthopedic surgeon because her ankle was bothering her. The surgeon, Doctor Gibbons, just happens to be my cousins son which is kind of cool. She ended up getting a cortisone shot in her ankle which I watched... interesting and that otta hurt at the same time. Brooke dropped me off on her way to school in Connell and I started into my day. Then I got the call, "Dad, I got in a wreck"...those are awful calls, a world of emotions come compressed into a single moment. I got a few details, I'm fine, the car is a mess, I hit a truck, so I went to get her really not knowing what all to expect. when I arrive, there are 4 State Patrol cars there, and a county crew putting absorbent on a line of fuel on the road that stretched 80 or so yards. The car is in the median on a bit of a hill pointed somewhat back to the road she left and a tanker truck she tangled with may be 100 yards up the road. The truck is fully loaded with jet fuel, that was a bit unsettling. He was climbing the hill at Mesa on Highway 395 so he was going a bit slow and Brooke came up behind him on cruise control at 70MPH. Her phone buzzed and she looked to see who it was...bad idea...looked up to see she was way to close to the truck. She swerved out into the passing lane and then over corrected which caused her to come back into the back side of the drive axle wheels of the truck. In other words she missed the back end of the truck but hit the truck on the side. The trucks wheels pushed the nose of the car up and bent the fender up on the truck and damaged the off loading pipes which spilled the fuel. The front of the car is smashed bad from the trucks wheels, road rash on the top corners, and dings pretty much everywhere. She says it was in slow motion, she remembers going over 3 times, no one stopped to say they witnessed it which is crazy because it is quite a long straight stretch and there always seems to be vehicles there. The cabin portion of the car came through very well for which I am grateful. Brooke seems to be fine, her chest is sore from the seat belt and her neck muscles were a bit sore along with the ankle she got the cortisone shot in. We went back to Dr. Gibbons again the next morning to get a medical release so she could play in the State Volleyball Tournament a couple days later. We are so thankful she basically walked away from something that could have been so terrible.