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 On February 28 2002 Bob Nordberg , Chris Stanley and I departed from Georgetown headed for Daytona under a partly cloudy ,cold sky. We all assured each other that we were ready to go , however by the time we got to Coupland , a grueling 20 mile ride , one of us who will remain unnamed needed gas ( don’t worry Chris , its our secret !!) Now on our way once again we made it to Brenham ,stopped and ate lunch , cleared Houston and Beaumont , passed Orange and into Louisiana . We decided that Lake Charles was as good as any place to stop for the night. The following Morning we woke up to a Forty degree rain ,now I don’t mean a little sissy drizzle , this was raining two inches an hour , running out of gutter downspouts like a fire hydrant. We headed to the local Harley dealer to round up some additional rain gear and gloves Etc… It’s amazing how your confidence in your equipment crumbles when it’s raining and forty degrees. We Ventured out into the day and got riding , within about an hour we were completely soaked and freezing, its just not fair to expect any article of clothing to keep rain out that was coming down that hard and compounded with moving at 60-70 MPH , it would be like standing in an automatic car wash with an umbrella and expecting to stay dry. After about a tank of gas ( 100 -120 miles ,give or take ) we stopped at a Waffle House for some food and a break, It was there that we learned a couple of things (1) you cant get pancakes at a Waffle House , even with an argument , bad attitude and a moderate amount of swearing ! ( 2) Bob doesn’t want Chris Sitting next to him when he wanted pancakes but got Waffles ! Were off again and we pass Baton rouge and get through the Atchafalaya swamp and make a stop in Gross Tete to try to warm up ,dry off and regain a sense of humor, still cold , still wet and still crabby we ride off and after about a half an hour Bob said he’d had enough for the day and wanted to stop , It was the happiest moment of that day for me , I didn’t want to be the one to throw in the towel and was thankful that Bob did ! We got a hotel and found a dryer , started drying our clothes and leathers , we went to eat at the only choice for food there which was a Diner , not bad , but when the Local Law ( a Sheriff I believe ) found out that Chris was a Lawyer the Lawyer jokes came fast , furiously and relentlessly . Back at the hotel I couldn’t help noticing that our room looked like a herd of Black Cows had collided with a Ski Resort lost and found with all of our shit ! Saturday we got going early and it was cloudy but dry (Thank God !) we head out and are out of Louisiana in no time , rip across Mississippi without ever touching the ground and cross Alabama in a comfortable stride , we stopped for gas and insults just east of Mobile Alabama , on the road again, now sunny and getting warm quickly, it was about 11:00 A.M. when we hit the Florida Line. At Mile Marker 5 ( Pensacola) we were cruising in the right lane , I was in the back listening to Guns ‘n Roses November Rain when both of my Mirrors filled up from out of nowhere with a pickup Truck , he attempted to pass me on the shoulder for reasons unknown and hit my bike from behind . I was ejected from Mrs. Butterworth (My bike) she went about 275 feet and I went about 180 feet. When I came to a stop I was facing down the highway and I noticed my right boot was on the shoulder of the highway , praying my foot wasn’t still in it, I checked and my foot was still with me , the impact had literally blown me out of my boots ( the other boot was hanging off the end of my foot also !) I knew my right hand was bad , but I had no idea how bad , I was sore to the point that I couldn’t move ,Bob and Chris drug me out of the road and onto the shoulder . I was taken by ambulance to the Hospital and had 132 X-Rays , got the asphalt picked out of my road rash and the Doctors told me I had no internal injuries , but my right hand was a mess. I had Five days in the hospital to think about a lot of things, In the end I had broken all 10 of my fingers and both wrists , after three months of physical therapy I had ( Have) no use in my right ring and middle fingers and very limited use of my right index finger . We had Chris continue on to Daytona like Magellan exploring the New World , we still weren’t sure if the earth was flat or not and we needed an answer ( I still don’t know!) Bob Stayed in Pensacola with me, left his bike at Pensacola HD, rented a car and drove me home when I got out of the Hospital, he returned to Pensacola a few weeks later with a trailer and picked up our bikes ( Mine was totaled , I never got to ride her again , I still miss her ) The day of my accident I did the bleeding, but all three of us got hurt , I’m sorry that my friends had to see it happen , I hope I never have to see what they saw. Bob took me up to Indiana to pick up “Old Blue “ in late May (Less than three months after my accident) , I rode her the day after I got her home . I’ve ridden about 85,000 miles since then , I spent a lot of time looking in my mirrors , not so much anymore , everyday it gets better. I need to thank Chris for staying calm on I -10 he was the one who held it together and kept Bob from killing the guy who hit me , I need to thank Bob for everything he did for me during that time ( not all of it was pleasant!) we’ve been friends for over 20 years and will be for life !! Lynda & The Kids – A lot of people think I’m nuts for riding again, maybe I am. Lynda and the kids are the only people that need to understand why I ride and they do understand and for that I am eternally grateful, grateful that I have a family that knows that while riding is in my blood ,they are the most important thing in the world to me ! | Hero's and Villain's | Daytona 2002 | Sturgis 2002 | Sturgis 2003 | Laconia 2004 | Arkansas 2003 | New Orleans 2004 | South Padre Island 2002 | Daytona 2005 | Lake Tahoe 2005 | Big Bend 2005 | | Return Home | Map to Hare | Pictures from all over | Links | Contests and Winners | Rides | contact us | Upcoming events | The Big Kahuna Burger | Menu | |
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