— Thoughts While On The Road —
The below are simply reposts of what i posted on my blog over the past week. I never made it to a library where i could update this page, so the first of the entries are short text messages i posted through my telephone and don't have much content. The interesting information, and longer posts, came after i got to a computer at my hotel.
-5/2/10-
End of day 2. Much harder than expected. Sat. Mid-90s. Sun. Lower 90s. Hills make roads at home seem flat. Spent much of today in 1st gear between 4 & 9 mph. Tonight in campground near Ashland, VA.
-5/3/10-
-5/4/10-
-5/6/10-
-5/6/10-
Had just come down Rt. 56 from the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday evening and was in a residential area when i saw two dogs at full steam running towards me and the other person i was riding with. I moved to the opposite side of the road and sped up, when....... i will never know. I remember nothing of the fall and crash. The next memory is of a woman standing over me saying "Ooooo, that's going to need some stitches." Then i was in a car going to the hospital in Lexington, VA. Turns out the driver was the woman's husband and they were the owners of the dog. I was even too out of it to get mad when i heard some one say "but they wouldn't have actually left the yard."
Got to the emergency room at 8pm, according to a sign i saw on the wall while laying there. They released me at 5am this morning.
Scans of face and head show no internal damage. X-rays of both hands show nothing broken. But,
Front tire of bike doesn't look true any more. Chain is off. The back wheel doesn't roll very well either but couldn't see if it was the brakes or the wheel.
The doctor told me to pack up and go home. A camp ground is not a place where my face is going to heal. Plus i need to get stitches out in a week. I'm not stupid enough to argue with him so my TransAm dream is now on hold.
Found a place that will ship all my stuff back to Lockport for me. I don't need to do anything except give him my credit card number. Will call the airlines after this and see about changing my airplane ticket to one flying home from Ronoke, VA. Probably on Saturday, but i haven't decided yet. I already paid for the room and it's nice and quiet here so it would be good to relax for one day before attempting the trip home. They may not let me on the plane since i'm pretty ugly right now.
Don't look at the below picture unless you like gore....
|
|
| (Click to enlarge) |
Good news, as i said, is that as bad as i look i'm up and walking around. The bike helmet did it's job and nothing was broken. My face is sore, but that should go away by 2012. And, i had a fun 5 days before it happened. All in all, it could have been a lot worse.
-5/7/10-
Have changed my airplane ticket and leave from Roanoke, VA Saturday afternoon. United, being the compassionate people they are, said i'm changing my route but since it's for medical reasons they'll only charge me $150. Nice of them....
Called the insurance company and we are all puzzled. The doctor gave me two prescriptions to fill: an antibiotic 3x/day for 5 days, and some pain killer to use every four hours as needed (which i have no intention of using). When i picked these up, i had to pay the standard co-pay.
When i left the ER, i was never asked to pay a co-pay there. Blue Cross-Blue Shield and i both have the same question — why?
My eye is swollen and that's bugging the bejesus out of me. Always feels like something is in it so i try and wipe it, to no effect.
My mouth is swollen because i jammed my bottom teeth into my lip. Between this and the stitches in my chin, my mouth doesn't open very much, which might make some people happy, i suppose. :-)
Since my right thumb isn't all that usable, i have to use my left hand for anything i have to grasp. Like a fork? I'll note here that i am so not ambidextrous that it's not funny. So, with a mouth that doesn't open very widely and using my left hand, eating is a real chore.
People stare at me all the time. Actually, they try and sneak peaks when they think i won't notice. I'm just telling myself that it's because i'm so good looking they can't help themselves.
Lastly, i called my doctor's office in Lockport to arrange to have the stitches taken out next Thursday.
Ahhhhh, life.
-5/7/10-
The woman told me that the co-pay issue is dealt with when you first arrive and i was, apparently, not lucid enough to deal with it so they skipped that step. Yes, i did owe $200 for the co-pay, but they were just going to bill me. So, i payed that and should now be off the hook.
But, when i got to the hospital there was a biker sitting on the ground in front of the building (it's a very small hospital) and i recognized him as a guy i had met at a park i stayed in a few days ago. We were both surprised to see each other but he said he had come to see if i was still in the hospital.
Apparently, the guy that i was riding with when the accident happened told someone at a gas station, who told someone, who told someone (or something like this) and the guy today had heard about it. The grapevine is an amazing thing; reminds me of the grapevine on the henro trail on Shikoku — it's vast and incredibly fast.
When he got to the hospital they claimed no record of me for privacy reasons. We chatted, i told him to drink a beer for me (i don't think i can have a beer while on the antibiotics?), and asked him to try and have double the pleasure for both of us for a few days. He agreed and went on his way.
It's interesting, to me, that i unexpectedly decided to walk up to the hospital at just the time he happened to be there. The world works in strange, but interesting, ways.
Now i have to put together a list of the value of all my gear so the shippers can insure it accordingly as it works it's way back to Lockport.
Lasts thoughts on what's next. In short, i don't know, but wondering if maybe, after i heal, i should ride my bike south from Lockport to Cave-In-The-Rock, where the TransAm enters Illinois, turn west, and then ride the rest of the trail from there. I would completely skip the last little bit of Virginia and all of Kentucky. This all depends on how long it takes my face to heal. The rest of the scraped and bruised parts are sore but usable enough to ride now if i really wanted to.
-5/10/10-
Yesterday was the first time i actually had to say "I hurt." My sister helped, but on the first day back i had to go out and buy some groceries, mow the lawn, and run some other errands. For the first time, the scabs on my knees and wrists hurt as i used those joints. And my sprained right thumb is making doing almost anything slightly difficult and mildly painful. Actually, the truth probably is that this was the first time they hurt simply because this was the first time i had to use them. While in Lexington, VA, i stayed in my hotel room on the bed unless i had to go out and do something. I did that so as not to stress the wounds so not surprisingly nothing hurt back then.
I'll go to the doctor on Thursday to get the stitches removed from above the eye and on the chin and see what he says about all the other scabs across the body. All in all, though, i'm surprised at how good the face is now looking. Almost all the swelling has gone down, and my eye has gone from a swollen red "blob" to simply black and blue. It still isn't pretty, but it no longer looks bad or dangerous. The body heals itself well. It will be interesting to hear what the doctor has to say.
Today is my last day of antibiotics. I never used the Vicodin, but will hold onto it for another week, or so, before flushing those pills down the toilet.
My thoughts on the responsibility of the dog owners: I accept that dog owners shouldn't be required by law to keep their pets on a chain while the dog is on their property. I don't accept, though, that if the dog doesn't leave the property, yet it still causes harm, the owners can't be held responsible. But that seems to be the law.
I still don't know what happened, never will — the guy i was riding with is long gone and i was too out of it to think of asking the dog owner what happened when he took me to the hospital. I only remember fleeting moments of that car ride and not much of the first hour in ER. All i know is i saw the dogs running at us and then sped up to get away.
Yet, this is costing me a lot of money.
My out of pocket expenses are already about $1,200, and i haven't even started to repair the bike yet. When that gets back to Lockport and i see what damage it has, that adds to my total cost.
In my mind the owner of the dogs should be responsible for these expenses. I wasn't careless. I wasn't doing anything reckless. I was reacting to a threat from his dogs, whether or not those dogs eventually crossed the property line. I had no way of knowing that they might not.
How is it that the owners can get away with no consequences for their pet's actions? I simply can not understand. If they never have to pay the consequences they will never accept responsibility and change their dogs' behavior. IMO.
When i left the ER, i asked if they had a phone number for the dog owner but they said no. If i had it i would find their address and write them a letter asking for a refund. I don't want to sue them or take them to court, but it would have been interesting to see how they phrased their "Sorry, but tough luck" reply.
So i'll settle for just going on public record: Mr. & Mrs. Rick "WhoeverYouAre" on the right side (as you enter town after leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway) of Rt. 56 in Vesuvius, VA, if you read this you owe me a lot of money. But i'll be surprised if you ever act like a moral adult, accept the responsibility, and pay it.