History… a subject that has always interested me. Also, an item notorious for repeating itself! Naturally, I’m going to offer an example… You did see that coming, right?
I’d stopped the evening before for the night in Centre, AL, at the Weiss Lake Lodge… a place I’ve stayed in before. I was on my way from Clinton, TN, to Montgomery, AL, for some doctor business. I was also making two days out of a one-day ride, just because it’s mighty hot out there, but mostly because I was wanting to return to my usual circumstance, and this enabled us to take some backroads and to travel a bit more, time-wise… I do prefer to be on the road vs. parked in a rocking chair or recliner!
The first leg of this trek had been on interstate highway, but the rest of it was back roads for the most part: The last twenty miles or so would again be on interstate… None of the miles on interstates were really necessary, but by doing so where and when I did, I saved myself from having to crawl along in heavy traffic (or so I’d thought) and through dozens of traffic lights! A tit-for-tat thing… And, like I said, it is mighty hot out there!
Now, the mornings, especially early, are downright pleasant! It’s late morning through midday and on into late afternoon that are the boogers. Since much of the riding would be on backroads, I elected to not ride before daylight, so… I did indeed manage to find plenty of elevated BTU readings along the way!
So, the morning of my discontent began typically enough. I felt great, having just completed a pretty doggone good slumber episode, and the coffee had been very much to my liking. Not as good as Community Coffee with chickaree, mind you, but still plenty good enough. ALI was clearly feeling her oats, too, and loading proceeded unremarkably… Our girl fired right up, and away we rode!
Down along many familiar roads, enjoying the ride, making good use of the relative coolness, and not stopping for breakfast… plenty of time for that once the heat arrived, I reasoned. We did finally stop in Dadeville, AL, for a quickie breakfast sandwich under the Golden Arches, and to purchase a Fleet enema (instructions from the imaging folks I would see the next morning) half a block away at a drug store, then right back at it…
We made the turn in Lineville, AL, onto AL 49 and the 50 miles or so stretch down to I-85. A really nice ride… nothing tricky or challenging, though… unless, of course, one has the speedo needle well past the half-way point towards the upper end of the scale… which we didn’t.
That is the route we used to take when riding up from Florida to attend the Cheaha Gatherings. After buying a house in Wetumpka, AL, I still found myself astride our girl on this same ribbon of asphalt on countless other rides… one of a couple of my favorite north/south routes!
In little time at all, it was time to go to work and hammer out those remaining miles on the slab to the motel I’d reserved for the next two nights. Quite hot by then, and I was beginning to feel the effects of nap deprivation… I grabbed the jug of Mountain Dew Kick-Start (extra caffeine!) I keep on her risers for convenient infusions of my drug of choice for the express purpose of dozing avoidance. Routine, really, as I have been drinking fluids of some sort carried thusly for decades. Well, right up until then, the day had been nearly perfect! Sigh…
Have I ever mentioned that I’m apparently not very proficient at multi-tasking? In addition to being more forgetful lately, I also seem to be occasionally confusing tasks for certain activities… Traffic up ahead had begun to slow… no big surprise, though, as there had been signs out. I could see that it was slowing considerably, so I quickly started to replace the cap on the jug after taking one last big swig… Near as I can deduce, I must have then inhaled instead of swallowing!
I began coughing uncontrollably, I couldn’t breathe, and I must have… whatever… The next thing I knew, I was lying on the pavement, still straddling ALI, and three guys were hovering above me asking how I felt. It had been a very low-speed affair, as no discomfort was felt anywhere, no torn clothing (pants or shirt), and no abrasions that I could see or feel… Nothing felt out of place or painful…
My three rescuers escorted me over to some shade, one handed me a water bottle, and all three were telling me I should let them call for help. Nope, I’m fine, really! I was… almost… What I didn’t know until I was seated in the shade and one of my new favorite people pointed it out, but I had a hole in my left boot and blood was oozing out.
Dang, I’ve never seen that before! I’d walked under my own power over there, and I hadn’t felt anything, so I’d figured nothing was broken… probably sprained and bruised or something, though, and I’d probably feel it later… I did. My new friends got ALI out of the travel lane… now pointing in the wrong direction in the emergency lane, but no complaints from this dude!
A state trooper arrived and assessed the situation… and he sized me up. He did run my driver’s license, but nothing showed up! Actually, I was relieved to learn that, as it would appear none of my childhood ‘discovery’ exploits have been reported in conjunction with the pervasive ‘#Me Too’ thing; and, none of my former ‘patients’ from the days way back when I played ‘doctor’ have turned me in, either… Another silver lining here…? I think so…
The trooper was ready to leave, but first he wanted to watch me get on ALI, start her up, and turn her around… I did all that, and then we joined the other happy motorists creeping along from stop to stop to stop…, etc. The trooper, apparently satisfied, made his way on up ahead.
ALI had come to rest upon her engine and saddle bag guards, and she had suffered no ill-effects or boo-boos as a result of this little pause in our ride… She’d started up and run quite normally afterwards, too, and… near as I can tell, she has not held this against me!
We did in time pass a collision site where two vehicles had had a boo-boo. I never saw any construction activity, though, but the traffic blockage lasted for another half mile or so beyond the collision. Can’t be sure, of course, but I’d guess the collision was caused by the traffic snarl and not the other way around…
I arrived at the motel without further incident… My left foot had become ‘tender’, however, but I could still walk fairly well… only with some discomfort now. I checked in, got a room, parked, and unloaded our girl. Then it was time to examine the foot…
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upload an image I applied some ‘Bactine’ that Gordon had picked up for me the other day, and I also applied a ‘pain patch’ piece from one Dennis had given me, then I took a couple of Aleve. To complete that new ensemble look, I put on a pair of sandals/flip-flops, that my cousin Nick had given me… Sure is good to have reliable, generous friends, ya know… Maybe I shouldn’t leave home without one…? Nah...
DDT
