JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
We were on the last leg of our nearly 6,000-mile roadtrip, just 95 miles from home, at 1:30AM, just below the Mogollon Rim. Having driven this highway dozens of times in all types of conditions, from afternoon monsoon rains to heavy snowstorms at night, I knew that elk were everywhere at all times. However, despite my corresponding cautious driving changes to attempt to prevent a collision with one of these monstrous ungulates (driving 10 miles below the speed limit, my wife and I both visually scanning the road and shoulders for elk, etc.), the evil stars aligned in a dark, hard turn of the highway nestled in a swag...A cow elk galloped out in front of us. I slammed the brakes, but not soon enough or hard enough to avoid disaster. The elk is dead, my 100 is mangled 
On the bright side, my wife who is 7-months pregnant, our 3 year-old daughter, and our two dogs were all just fine. I also didn’t try to swerve to miss the elk, but instead hammered down in the brakes, so avoided a rollover in the curve. The Cruiser still runs great! Radiator not busted, engine still running like a top, etc. The airbags did *not* deploy, so the brakes did their job in slowing us down. Fortunately, I have AAA Gold Plus, which will tow you anywhere within a 100 mile radius for no charge; thus, we rode in the cruiser all the way home on the back of a tow truck.
On the downside, it was dark and I haven’t assessed the damage extensively yet. The hood, fender, grill, bumper cover, etc. are toast obviously. Unclear what, if any, of the critical body supports are damaged, but I suspect at least the radiator support is jacked. Mechanical damage seemed to be limited.
The cruiser is currently sitting in my driveway. I’ll have to muster up the strength to go check it out in the daylight. Any suggestions for working with insurance (Liberty Mutual)? Certainly, my primary concern is that the damage will be too costly to fix and insurance will consequently total it out. My 3-year old is already bummed that the cruiser she helped me work on is “hurt”, but she’ll be crushed if it’s a goner!
On the bright side, my wife who is 7-months pregnant, our 3 year-old daughter, and our two dogs were all just fine. I also didn’t try to swerve to miss the elk, but instead hammered down in the brakes, so avoided a rollover in the curve. The Cruiser still runs great! Radiator not busted, engine still running like a top, etc. The airbags did *not* deploy, so the brakes did their job in slowing us down. Fortunately, I have AAA Gold Plus, which will tow you anywhere within a 100 mile radius for no charge; thus, we rode in the cruiser all the way home on the back of a tow truck.
On the downside, it was dark and I haven’t assessed the damage extensively yet. The hood, fender, grill, bumper cover, etc. are toast obviously. Unclear what, if any, of the critical body supports are damaged, but I suspect at least the radiator support is jacked. Mechanical damage seemed to be limited.
The cruiser is currently sitting in my driveway. I’ll have to muster up the strength to go check it out in the daylight. Any suggestions for working with insurance (Liberty Mutual)? Certainly, my primary concern is that the damage will be too costly to fix and insurance will consequently total it out. My 3-year old is already bummed that the cruiser she helped me work on is “hurt”, but she’ll be crushed if it’s a goner!
From the sound of it you can probably (no frame bending happened I hope) put her back together and live to bull fight another day. 
) driving lights when I bought my LC. The saved me on that trip. I could see "something, possibly an alien" about a mile down 550. I maintained speed but kept an eye on the "alien". It was in the middle of my lane. At 1/4 mile I knew it was an Elk so I started coasting down, expecting it to move. Nope. I drove right up to it. I was about 3' away and we just stared at each other. It was a young bull. I even honked and it just looked at me. I was about ready to back up and go around when it just ambled off to the right. Nohug, no wave, didn't even look back.
Of course, we also did some other traveling around to rack up a couple extra thousands of miles.
