Smash!

On the drive up to the bachelor party, on the interstate at near warp speed, the pickup truck in front of us drove over a piece of plywood that someone had dropped into the highway. It flew up into the air right in front of us and there was zero time to do anything about it. Smash -- it bounced off the front grill, splintered into pieces, and went under the Prius.

When we stopped and checked, we found some superficial damage in front (a piece of grill missing), and our muffler hanging down at an alarming angle. We determined that we could still drive it, so we continued on to the bachelor party, with the Prius engine sounding like a small Cessna prop plane when it was running, and the muffler occasionally scraping on the ground.

We've called it in to the insurance company, and on Monday we'll be getting it evaluated and then we can arrange repairs. Our insurance will even cover a rental car if we need one, but not sure yet if we will.

The whole thing is a bit nerve-wracking, particularly when the muffler scrapes on the road, and the engine check light isn't helping, but all in all we got off pretty easy. A piece of plywood hitting the car at highway speeds could have done far, far worse. Heck, we didn't even miss the bachelor party.