I slogged my way through downtown Chicago traffic to get to the lot on the south side where my car had been towed. Narrowly avoided getting mauled by rottweilers, and dug all the stuff out of my car that I had been hauling in it. Tents, sleeping bags, plush monkey heads, 8-tracks, the usual.

It was strange -- the car was really, truly dead. I remember saving up for it, paying $10,000 in cash for it, a solid year-and-then-some of saving. Road tripping, all that good stuff. And now, scrap. I'm not sentimental about the car itself, I guess. It was just strange, stripping out all the stuff I've carried around in it for years, double-checking the glove compartment, making sure I remembered to get the jumper cables from the trunk...

Sadly, my digital camera had been stolen from the back seat. At the time of the accident, I only had a couple minutes to grab when I could carry from the car before it was towed. Laptop and GPS took priority -- the GPS unit is pocket-sized and there's too much critical job-related data on the laptop to even consider chancing it.

So. Yeah. Bye-bye camera. I guess I'll find out a little more about insurance policies soon. I have the feeling it won't be covered, though, since the towing lot disclaims all responsability for things you don't take out of the car before it's towed.

Anyhow. We'll see.