Finally, The Accident

It started off like any morning. Drag my sorry ass out of bed at 4:45, get down on my knees and say hello to God and the world, then pad on off to the bathroom, flip the coffee pot on, fire up the furnace, and scramble into the shower. Iron the shirt, fire up the bacon and egg, swill the coffee, grab all the gear, load up the motorcycle, wriggle into the leathers, then into the foul-weather gear, and head for the ferry.

6:05 ferry out of Southworth, noisy, steamy, and after a stop at Vashon we arrived at Fauntleroy at 6:50 or so. Then it's up the hill, over to Roxbury, and down the hill near Myers Way on the back side of West Seattle. I'd left a lot of room between me and the next guy. It was still dark of course.

And what I didn't really pay attention to was the carpet of yellow maple leaves. So, in the rain, and needing to put on the rear brakes, I fished once, fished twice, and slammed down hard on the right side.

The next few minutes were interesting. Actually, the next few days were interesting.

Here's the list of good fortune...... I was wearing a helmet, and when my head hit, the helmet protected me. Else, I'd be a vegetable today. I was wearing the leathers, and the raingear, else my skin would be all over the road. I was far enough away from the guy in front of me that I didn't slide into him. I did NOT slide into the oncoming traffic. The woman behind me was far enough behind me that SHE was able to stop. And, I have motorcycle insurance (not required in WA) and medical coverage as a result of my job.

Here's the list of bad decisions..... I had worn my multi-tool on my right hip, and landed on it, thereby causing the world's largest bruise with a white Leatherman imprint in the center.....I had been so concerned about getting to the sales meeting that I had forgotten about the leaves.......

And here's the list of good decisions.....When the policewoman asked me if I'd like to go to the hospital, and having banged myself pretty badly, I thought that would be a good idea. So, even though I had been standing talking to them, they strapped me to the backboard, loaded me into the ambulance, and took me to The Zoo, their name for Harborview, which is the critical care hospital near Boeing Field.

And that's where the gratitude really started to kick in. After I had been X-Rayed and CAT scanned, but before I had been released from observation an accident victim was brought into the emergency room and placed on the bed adjacent to me. He'd been changing a truck tire in the shop he works for, and it had exploded on him. The injuries were blunt force trauma and brutal. He had a compound fracture of the leg, compound fracture of his clavicle, and blunt trauma injuries to his abdomen. And, in order for the staff to repair these, they had to re-insert them into his body, which is basically torture. And, they needed a urine sample, and inserting a catheter into one's penis I now fully understand as torture also. For about an hour they tortured him while I sat there listening and thanking God that it wasn't me, and that I was going to be OK.

An hour or so later, I walked out of the hospital, walked down the hill to gather my wits, then took a taxi back to the motorcycle, which suffered only minor scrapes and damage, and got on it, and rode it home, then spent the entire rest of the day in bed.

So much worse this could have been.

So, I blamed it on the new rear tire which had a different, harder compound, but after a while I came to realize that it really was the leaves, and not the tire. But, I'm still a bit reluctant to ride quite as hard as I had been, and at my age that's probably a good thing.

Thanks,
JW