I nearly killed Gaylene and myself last week!!

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Ok, as much as I hate to admit that I "occassionally" make mistakes, I have to relate this story. Last week Gaylene and I drove to the mountains for a little recreation. The roads were slick and somewhat greasy in spots. However, I have driven this same road at least 1,000 times before....no exaggeration here. Also, I drive one of the most reliabe and roadworthy cars on the road, a Mercedes E320. Well, anyone who knows me, even remotely, from MyLot should know that I am "pretty much" a "Know-it-all"....at least I was up until last week. As we were coming down the mountain, at around 70 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour zone, I had just rounded a left curve and was preparing for a right curve; suddenly the back end started shifting to the right and the next thing I know we were going backwards in the opposite lane! Gaylene started screaming, I hit the breaks, and we kept going. I assumed we would stop in the other lane heading in the other direction from which we had just came. NO SUCH LUCK! Thank GOD there were on on-coming vehicles as we entered the opposite lane! We continued off the shoulder, up a small embankment, and were headed down a 300' ravine...backwards! Suddenly we were jolted to a dead-stop when the rear-end hit a small tree. By the time we were stopped, two opposing tires were off the ground and the other two were buried in snow and dirt! We were literally hanging by a thin tree limb 300' above the bottom of the ravine! It was 9:45PM, dark, and bitter cold. Several people stopped to assist, but we were too far over the edge and stuck for anything except a tow truck to help. Gaylene staggered, crying, from the car. In a matter of minutes she was shivering from the bitter cold and half in shock. What amazes me, in addition to not going over the edge, is the number of people who DIDN'T STOP! Even those in BIG pickups that might have been able to help. So now you now: I'm not as big of a Know-it-all as I used to think I was. We drove up there again last night to see where we almost went over the edge. It was even scarier seeing it for the second time around! This time we drove the 4x4 Ranger! I'm not driving the Mercedes again for a while! And, from now on....I'm obeying the speed limit signs....on mountain roads!