Reckon it just weren't my time to die ... (1 Viewer)

[KOWBOY]

The swellin' round my eyes has gone down just enough to see out of both of 'em and I can get my glasses on. Here's my story. And no, I was not drunk.

So I wake up with a cop's huge hand gently on my shoulder. He's got the squad car's headlights lightin' me up in the middle of the road. His huge body's all scruntched up on his hands and knees to get his face close to mine so he can figure out the situation. I can just make this out through my swollen right eye. I'm layin' on my belly on the warm, Alabama pavement. I feel no pain. My helmet's still on, as well as my ridin gloves. The left side of my face is right in the middle of a large pool of blood that seems to be flowing away from me in all directions. I am breathin'. I know I'm breathin'. I can feel and hear the gurglin' in my lungs comin' up through my open mouth. Also feel teeth in my mouth. All over my mouth. Seem to all pointed wrong direction though. With a heavy, southern drawl, a very deep, powerful voice is asking me over and over .. "You alive man? ... You alive man? ..."

Seemed like a very difficult question for me to answer at the time.

But reckon I should start from the beginnin' ...

Weekend before last, I had loaded up the new Street Glide into the trailer and hauled ass to The 3x's. Got Butch to do the inspection and headed over to the DMV and got the new tag. Put the tag on back at Baker Tire and I headed North. Then sorta East, reckon some west, and definnitely some back South. Put damn-near 350 miles on 'er that day. A really, really nice ridin' bike. Loaded 'er right back in the trailer and headed back to Mobile. And then the rains came. For the entire week. Tossed in here by the lil Mes'kin hurricane. Was able to shuttle 'er over to the Harley Shop though for her 1,000 mile service. So a week ago Friday, the rains stopped and my bike was ready to pick up at the shop. Nice! Buddy follows me home to my apartment. Drop off the brand-spankin' new Comp'ny Truck and change into the scooter gear. Ease on over to the Harley Shop, pay the bill, saddle up, and ride ... bout 2 miles. Where I stopped at a burger joint for a burger and 2 beers. Left there bout 1800 hours and had no place at all in mind to go. But ... By Gawd ... I was on my way.

My eyes aren't focusin' to good no more ... to be continued.

 

[DHONDAGOD]

Damn glad to see you still kickin'... Hang in there & know you are in our prayers for speedy healing!!

BTW... Waiting for the rest of the story...



Susan

 

[Fireman]

Take it slow and easy old man. Let the pain meds do their thing.

 

[smtyblt]

I am glad you are OK or going to be ok Buddy. Hang in there Kowpoke and once you are all healed up get right back on that bike and enjoy yourself

Cam

 

[Domek]

Mr. President, I am glad your OK! ....Take it easy sir and keep us post it!


and NOOOOO! NO Bike!

...Just Kidding!

get back on it and enjoy it

it will take some time!

 

[Bodean]

Good to hear from you Sir! Now get something to wheel and come on back. We ain't never tried to kill ya!

 

[Fireman]

Good to hear from you Sir! Now get something to wheel and come on back. We ain't never tried to kill ya!

Yet@!

 

[65swb45]

Wow, so THIS is WHAT IT TAKES to get you to sit down and write a good story?;p

Can't wait for the next installment of this instant classic. Got 'er bookmarked now.

 

[nuclearlemon]

If ya take that cold cans of colds off your swollen eye, you might be able to see a touch better

 

[famous potato]

Wow, pard wounded pride is the hardest to heal.

 

[wngrog]

More.....

 

[cruiserjunktion]

glad you are alive....

After a few near misses, I sold my hd and never looked back

 

[KOWBOY]

Sorry for the delay Folks ... had to spend bit more time in the hospital due to some complications.

So when I left the burger joint, I decided to ease on down to the coast and see me some tarballs. One of the neat thangs 'bout the roads on the Eastern Shore of the Mobile Bay is that they make up a grid all going North-South or East-West. Ain't no way to get lost, ain't no need for a map. Just a maze of country roads cutting through lil' plots of Folks enjoyin the country livin'. Go East. Go South. Whatever. Just ease on down to the Gulf. As the road stopped goin' South, I'm starin' at the beautiful white sands of Gulf Shores, Alabama ... as long as you look BEHIND the continuin' efforts of the clean up crews ... but not too far behind. Then you see where the s***'s rollin' up again as if they had never been there. The sheer number of people and the massive amount of equipment was overwhelming to me. I'm sittin' on a picnic table at the State Park just watchin' the money bein' spent. Absolutely impossible to even imagine that this level of activity, or even a higher level, is ongoing across the entire Gulf Coast Coastline.

With the thunderheads boomin' out over the Gulf, I sat and enjoyed a truly beautiful sunset. Least BP ain't fxxxed that up yet.

Had never ridden a scooter at night.

Found that to be an amusin' thought as I saddled up and fired off the mighty engine. Rode down the strip towards Pensacola, FL. Very nice summer evenin' so plenty of Folks millin' 'bout between the bars, hotels, and restaurants. The "beautiful" Folks that you only see at resorts or on the tee-vee. I had me some Merle blastin' from the MP3 player jacked into the stereo and just eased thru the scene with the big V-Twin rumblin' 'long in 3rd gear. Bright street lights and a wonderfully cool breeze comin' off the Gulf. As I kept goin' East the scene changed to more of a city life as I got to close to Pensacola, so I made me a u-turn to head back down the strip all the way back to Gulf Shores. What a great ride.

Gettin' kinda late though and it was gonna be tough to fight the alarm clock at 0430 in the mornin. So right 'round 2215, I fueled up the Hawg and put the bright city lights in my custom rear-view mirrors. Time to ease back up through the maze of country roads and head back to the apartment. But I just didn't quite make it.

To be continued ...

 

[KOWBOY]

I was very impressed with the bike's headlight once I got back out onto the dark, country roads. Runnin' along at the posted 55 mph speed limit, I could see my path ahead with no problem. With stars twinklin' above me but thunderheads all around on the horizon, it was a magical night. Damn-near cool enough that a light jacket would have been quite comfortable.

Alabama State Road 181 runs North-South and is kinda of a secondary road to shuttle the locals to and from the beach. Nice two-lane with smooth, new asphalt and brand new painted stripes on it. The very southern portion of SR181 don't quite run North and South. Between mile marker 1 and 2 there's a stretch of maybe 3/4 of a mile that runs East-West. 20 mph, 90 degree turns are on each end of this stretch. Basically, the road's just zig-zaggin' 'round some ol' property lines. As I headed North and came up on the first curve, I smoothly braked and downshifted into second gear. Merle started singin' lil' lower volume too as the high-tech stereo automatically adjusted the volume to the speed. Really cool. Eased on thru at 'bout 25 mph and just accelerated gently up onto third gear and rolled on towards the next curve. Let off the throttle just a bit a put 'er back down into second to ease into the second curve.

The Harley Davidson Street Glide has a very loyal following. She's a unique bike. She's considered to be part of the Touring Family, the smallest member in fact ... also known as a "bagger". But yet she only has a small lil' sport cowl on the front and only the two, hard-sided saddlebags. She also has a tuned sport suspension. She can eat up the road miles and eat up the curves. Take 'er cross country or take 'er bar to bar. And do it with style and comfort. Most Folks that trade them in just trade them in for a new one. Obviously no single bike is perfect for everyone, but there's certainly a very large crowd that think the Street Glide is perfect for them. I am now one of that crowd.

Passin' the center point of the curve, and on a perfect line, I ease into the throttle to power out of the curve. 3rd gear. Straighten up the bike and go into 4th gear. Hit 5th gear and back off a lil' to hold the 55 speed limit. The smooth powerband and firm handlin's got me grinnin' ear to ear as Merle was singin' louder the whole time. If you ride, you understand. If not, I can't explain. Favorin' the right side of the lane, I settled in for the long straight away. Scannin' the horizon in front of me and enjoyin' life. Right up to the time I see the tree fallin' in front of me.

That's right Folks ... a mother-fxxxin' tree is fallin' across the road in front of me. You gotta be kiddin' me.

The week's worth of rain storms had softened up the ground tremendously and the winds rockin' the trees back and forth had loosened up the roots. So the tree could no longer support itself and decided it was time to lay down and rest. Right across the road ... and right in front of me.

I immediately swerved hard into the left lane. Realizin' the tree was gonna cover the entire road, I hit the ABS brakes for all they're worth. It's truly amazin' how fast and stable the big ABS brakes will stop the bike. But it weren't enough. The last thing I remember is the headlight bein' a foot or two from the branches.

Maybe if I hadn't of swerved first and hit the brakes first instead, I could of stopped. Maybe if I had swerved and accelerated with all she's got, I could have gone under it. Or maybe I would have just hit the damn thang even harder. I don't know. I do know it was bad timing for that tree to fall when it did. Real bad timing.

To be continued ...

 

[Fireman]

Dammit!

 

[Domek]

"That's right Folks ... a mother-fxxxin' tree is fallin' across the road in front of me. You gotta be kiddin' me.


These things only happen to you sir!

I wonder why?

Darn it, I just can't believe it!

 

[nuclearlemon]

well, crap....i didn't see that coming. you most certainly tell stories with the best of them. maybe when my rigid beats my ass i'll have to try a street glide...oh, wait, they don't make em for midgets

 

[Off Duty]

Maybe if I hadn't of swerved first and hit the brakes first instead, I could of stopped. Maybe if I had swerved and accelerated with all she's got, I could have gone under it. Or maybe I would have just hit the damn thang even harder. I don't know. I do know it was bad timing for that tree to fall when it did. Real bad timing.

Kowboy, I don't know you, but I used to ride for a living. Strange things happen out there, But you can't make s*** like this up!
Unbelieveable Man!!

Glad you're still with us.

Taking your statement above:

If you'd have braked first, maybe? But who knows?

I've been riding for decades (just stopped not too long ago but still rent a ride from time to time..
I've ridden as a cop doing all kinds of crazy s***, and putting myself in all sorts of bad riding scenarios intentionally.
I've trained people (cops and civilian riders) for years. Done emergency stopping drills till I could puke.

All that said, I still don't believe, based on the time line you're giving us, that I could have avoided that tree.

And if you'd tried to out run it, you may have hit it as it fell and taken your damned head off...or had it on top of you.

Either way...you did what you felt best at the time and there's no one that can second guess you.

Take care of yourself and God Speed for a complete and rapid recovery.

 

[KOWBOY]

Either way...you did what you felt best at the time and there's no one that can second guess you.

Take care of yourself and God Speed for a complete and rapid recovery.

Thank you sir.

 

[KOWBOY]

... a very deep, powerful voice is asking me over and over .. "You alive man? ... You alive man? ..."

Based on the time printed on my gas receipt, approximate distance covered, and the time on the police report ... best I can cypher is that I laid there on SR181 for 'bout 45 minutes. Unconscious, bleedin' out, and feedin' the skeeters. As the paramedics arrived and rolled me over, breathin' was damn-near impossible. With the trooper helpin' to hold me down and the paramedics tryin' to jab breathin' tubes down my swollen neck ... I assumed that was 'bout it for this ol' Boy. Right before I passed out, my last memory is lookin' up the road towards all the headlights of the rescue vehicles with my one eye and seein' those freshly painted center stripes.

Double yellow.

A no-passin' zone.

No s***.

With oxygen bein' pumped into my lungs and morphine bein' pumped into my veins, I drifted in and out of consciousness. Ambulance took me to Thomas Hospital in nearby Fairhope. I remember bein' rolled into the emergency room ... and then rolled back out. Evidently the doctors decided they didn't want no part of my ass and they sent me back on my merry way. Next stop was the University of Southern Alabama Hospital Trauma Center in Mobile, Ala-dam-bama. The 8th floor is ICU. I came to the next mornin'. Plugged into more machines than I thought possible. Durin' the night, I had been run thru ev'ry X-ray machine, cat-scan thang and MRI deal that they had. As I'm takin' all this in, they roll a Fella by my room in a body bag. Bummer.

Despite all the efforts of a whole passel of doctors, they just couldn't find much wrong with me and they started disconnectin' machines one at a time. I was not a very good patient. I just didn't handle the situation very well. I was very scared and kept having anxiety attacks. Once they got the breathin' tubes outta me, I calmed right down though. And I wanted a damage assessment.

From my eye sockets down, I broke ev'ry bone in my face. Also gotta crack in C7 in my neck. Ev'rythang else is top notch.

A surgeon Fella came in on Wednesday and said I was headed to the operatin' room Thursday mornin' so they could rebuild my face. Next door neighbor Wednesday night was havin' a helluva time. Room was empty as they rolled me down to surgery Thursday mornin'. Learned real quick, that one way or the other, a Fella don't stay long on the 8th floor ICU at The University of Southern Alabama Hospital Trauma Center in Mobile, Ala-dam-bama.

To be continued ...