Things Always Work Out…
‘Valker’ and his delicate road trip partner blitzed down to Florida on their mission with at least one member of this duo fearing the worst. I had it in my head, with bureaucracy being what it is in my own imagination, that my change of address and driver’s license renewal would turn into some sort of marathon gauntlet experience with multiple visits to multiple locations that could take a week or more to sort out… It didn’t!
My daughter, it turned out, had all the necessary paperwork preparations we would need ready when I arrived, so we proceeded to the county office to receive the expected by yours truly bad news. Nothing of the sort! It went smoothly, and I even got my vehicle registration address changed, and voter registration taken care of… One place, one visit, less than one hour and four reasonably painless adjustments… WOW!
There was a near miss on the eye test, however, just as I had feared. That had been the one thing I was most worried would be a serious hang-up, and it nearly was. I flunked the first three times I made the attempt, and as the lady was getting the form for me to take to an eye doctor, I decided to try one more time… and I nailed it!!! Oh, happy day!
A few minutes later my brand spanking new driver’s license and vehicle registration form both with a new address were handed to me. This grateful dad along with his wonderful daughter gleefully departed and went for some celebratory BBQ! I didn’t get carried away, though. Nope, I exercised huge self-control and declined the sweet tea I so very much wanted… Sometimes we just have to get plum tough and take a firm stand…
Once I was able to get my head back down out of the clouds, I checked the weather forecast to see what the most opportune departure arrangement for us might be so the length of this visit could be gauged. Dang! The next morning appeared to be our best bet, so a speedy, heartfelt thanks and farewell were bid to my wonderful daughter, then an early evening turn-in for the next early morning departure was put in motion.
My delightful, darling daughter Dee Dee, so dear to my heart and downright helpful!
All our riding since heading south from West Virginia had begun with 3 or 4am departures and early afternoon stopping. We did the same on our return to North Carolina… Once we’d reached more tolerable temps and humidity levels, though, we were able to modify our ride practice to a more traditional pattern. The always present vigil for rain remained in place, of course, but other than that the pressure was finally relaxed considerably…
A funny thing about those unusually early morning departures. We’d both set our alarms for wake-up times to accommodate those, but neither alarm ever went off! We both awakened every time before the agreed upon times! We’d simply arise, turn off the alarms, then begin preparations for KSU in the early predawn darkness. It was a far better way to fly down the light traffic freeways well ahead of the certain to follow misery of exhausting heat!
Once back in North Carolina, we altered our path direction to more north/northwestwardly giving the Helene impact areas a rather wide berth. Gliding along southern Virginia dreading an obvious big rain cloud directly in our path, we came upon a confusing detour sign… It included an arrow pointing down an uninviting unpaved route… The road ahead was not blocked, however. I stopped to ponder on it some. Dusty Roads would not have even hesitated…
Eric pulled alongside and said he wouldn’t make the turn. OK, I said and began to roll forward… The noticeable grade decline to the right must have been misjudged by a certain bug killer who also suspects his left boot may have snagged on one of the many cracks in the pavement. Whatever had caused it, however, wasn’t nearly as important as the resulting involuntary dismount it produced…
My left foot had been caught under the left saddlebag, twisted sharply, and rolled up underneath. Naturally no weight could be applied, just as our girl could not be stopped from falling on her side… and on top of the rider’s twisted foot! Yep, that smarted more than a little bit for certain!
I don’t know if I squealed like a little child, but I strongly suspect that probably happened. I do recall earnestly and rather boisterously encouraging my pal to get that heavy machine off me with great haste! He tried but unsuccessfully to ease my plight… Then…
A youngish local hillbilly right out of central casting miraculously appeared from nowhere and single-handedly lifted the rearend of my heavily loaded mistress off the painful limb enough so I could pull my leg and foot clear. As abruptly as he had appeared, he vanished without a trace… I have no idea who he might have been, but I know I’ll be eternally grateful for his good deed for that day!
My foot was flopping around as I did a check to assess damage to ankle, knee, and foot. The foot and/or ankle were likely broken, I concluded, so somebody summoned an ambulance. In the meantime, a former EMT mysteriously appeared with his bag of 'goodies'.
He shined a light in my eyes to observe pupil response, then he felt various parts of my neck, spine, hips, knees, ankle and foot to see if that was painful. He also asked questions to gauge my consciousness state and possible shock status. I was impressed with his thoroughness and professionalism!
He then directed others in how to lift me and get me out of the road to allow traffic to move by. I was throughout all this pleasantly surprised at the lack of pain! The ambulance arrived and my good Samaritan disappeared as if on-cue. My shoe and sock were removed, I was helped to my feet, and all was being carefully observed by the medics.
I was by then able to wiggle my toes, move my foot around, stand and apply weight to the foot, all with discomfort but without pain! No ‘broken bones’ was the consensus by this time… Likely a severe sprain, possible other soft tissue injuries, but nothing broken! No, I still would not be riding away aboard our girl!
During all of this, an off-duty state trooper had stopped. A really nice and, it turned out, most helpful guy! He offered to let us park our girl at his house for a few days just down the road a quarter mile or so. The ambulance folks continued to further check me out. I declined the ambulance ride to a hospital and began making other plans along with Eric and the trooper.
He knew of a motel five miles or so away, so he proceeded to give me a ride to it while also transporting my gear in his van. Eric followed on his Valk, then the trooper carried Eric back to retrieve our girl and bring her to the motel. While in route to the motel, it had begun to rain, and I commented, “Some folks will do anything to avoid riding in rain, huh!” We both had a good laugh at that…
Eric returned with our girl later, and we began to critique recent events… Eric told me that when riding back to our girl he’d casually mentioned to the trooper, “Some riders would do anything to avoid riding in the rain!” The trooper had burst into laughter and told Eric that ‘his friend’ had just said the same thing!!!
No pan for soaking the foot, so the bathtub was used…
Foot and ankle the next morning…
The following morning, Mark Nelson, 3fan4life, pulled his trailer down to Meadows of Dan, VA, loaded our girl, and gave us a ride to Mitch’s (MitchO, aka Dusty Roads) place near Crossville, TN. In addition to being a super Valk recovery facility, it is now proving to be an excellent convalescence spot for careless riders!!! After rendering invaluable aid, my good friend Eric chose to ride on solo… Mark, however, stayed for a meal... Thanks for all you both did, my good friends!
Once everything had been unloaded, Laura had dinner ready for the crew…
I’m now basking in the warm glow of incredible friendship with Mitch, Laura, Bambi, and Barbie, who also happens to be here… While my left ankle and knee are pretty tender, and a rather grotesque bruise has developed around a somewhat swollen and rather gimpy ankle, I’m still ‘pain’ free after three days! I’m able to gingerly walk on the foot and hobble around well enough, but I don’t expect to be doing any dancing soon. Oh well, all things considered, I’ll gladly accept this outcome!
This was to be the next intended destination anyway, as Mitch had agreed to service the rear end and replace the rear tire. He’d also be checking a couple of other small items. He began tackling his latest project the next morning… But first… He and Barb washed ALI and… Holy cow! Our girl hasn’t shined like that in some time!!!
The next morning, the ‘kids’ started to play… with Barb supporting the cause… She not only helped wash our girl, she also polished her, too!
Naturally, assistance and supervision were also present…
DDT (12)… I'm sure there are more fortunate folks than I in this world, but I'm also sure I’m the luckiest guy I’ve ever personally known!!!
