jim & the blustery day--ride report

[Marilyn Mason]

I just had my first shower in 25 days and it felt great.  I had to remove 
the air cast (like a ski boot) from my roght foot and put a calf checking 
glove over the cast on my left hand to keep it dry.

October 27th dawned bright & fair at 10C (50F) with a promise of 15C (60F). 
Marilyn suggested I take advantage of the weather and take a last ride 
before putting the bike into hibernation.
There were wind warnings for southwestern Ontario.
I packed a light lunch, water and a camera in the tail trunk.  Donned 
several layers of clothes and my electric vest.
I put the key in the ignition and hit the startwer button.  There was a 
grunt from the bike and a sound like "I don't want to go". I should have 
listened to the bike. The battery was dead.  I jumped started it with a 
marine battery.  It stalled in the driveway.  I jumped it again and it 
stalled again.
I decided to give up on the ride and renmoved the battery.  I took it into 
the basement to charge it and as I was doing this I remembered I had just 
charged the battery for my Triumph..
I measured the Triumph battery and found it was the same lenght and width 
but about 1.5" shorter.  I cut a piece of 1.5" foam for the battery box and 
hooked up the triumph battery.  Mr. Northrop would probably agree this was 
not a wise thing to do.
I took the back roads to Bancroft where I had lunch and made a decision to 
run over to Haliburton then take 118 and 35  North to Dwight and come back 
home through Algonquin Park rather than south to Lakefield then to WArsaw 
and back home through Hastings county.
I noticed the wind getting up and riding through the odd dust devil of dirt, 
twigs and leaves just before I got to Carnarvon at the intersection of 118 & 
35.
I gassed up at Carnarvon (The 1/2 way point)and should have spent the $2.00 
and one minute on a lottery ticket.  Going north on 35, gusts of wind 
actually stood the bike up straight while I was leaning into corners.  This 
is a little startling having the bike stand upright heading for rock cuts, 
bush and/or opposing traffic.
I stopped at Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin park to have a drink of water 
and massage my butt.   I noticed there were waves over 1.5 meters (4 feet) 
high rolling across the lake.

At Kilaloe I got off the main highway onto Ruby Road.  I was about 300 
meters from the stop sign at te end of Ruby road and was down to about 60 - 
70 kph (40mph) when I was tangled in the top of a tree.  A 65 foot high pin 
oak growing along the fence line snapped off in the wind and landed on me.
Fortunately I was past the centre of the tree but was pulled from the bike 
by the branches that caught me..  The bike and I slid about 100 meters (300 
feet) along the pavement before coming to rest in the middle of the opposing 
lane.  Fortunately no one was coming.
I lay there for a few minutes surveying the situation and taking stock of 
what parts of me hurt.  I figured I had a few broken ribs, (was hoping it 
was just the wind nocked out of me) , took off my left glove and knew there 
were at least 2 metacarpal bones broken as the back of the hand was concave 
instead of convex and it was rapidly turning blue,  there was also a sharp 
pain in my right foot that suggestted a broken ankle.
I got up looked around then walked about 1/4 mile to Dwyer's farm at the 
other side of the stop sign to call the police.  After this I thanked old 
Mrs Dwyer and walked back to the bike where about 4 cars had stopped and 
people were searching the ditches for the rider of the downed bike.
A guy with a trailer loaded my bike up and took it to his place at Haley 
Station about 10 km from my house.  4 days later he delivered it to my 
house.
The police arrived and checked the scene.  The people who had stopped had 
already chainsawed the tree up and tossed it in the ditch.  The police 
called an ambulance and I was transported to the hospital in Pembroke.
Unfortunately the shock was wearing off durring the ambulance ride and the 
pain from the 3 broken ribs and collaped lung was getting a little much.
Once in the hospital with an IV for morphine I was just fine.
The method for reinflating a colapsed lung is kind of neat.  Its done with 
vacuum.  They punch a hole in your rib cage, insert a tube.  They connect 
the tube to a vacuum pump and create a vacuum in the chest cavity around the 
lung.  Then they make you breath deeply and Shazzam!! the lung inflates.
4 days later the tube was removed.  the doctor appologized before he started 
saying the tube removal would be painful.  The tube was held in place and 
sealed off with 1/2 an acre of tape.  I have a lot of body hair.  I did not 
feel the tube come out as they ripped off enough hair removing the tape to 
make a small dog.  Then they put on a 6"x6" presure bandage that had to be 
air tight.  I think the doctor was standing on this and it in turn was 
directly over the broken ribs.
I was panting a sweating profusly when this was completed and thankful that 
it was over.  My elation was short lived when I realized that pressure 
bandage was going to reove another dog's worth of hair when it was removed. 
And it did.
I got the bike running yesterday.
Any body know where I can get a right front signal lamp, right front foot 
peg and a brake pedal for a 2003 Suzuki 1000 DL Vstrom?

On the lighter note I became a grandfather for the 3rd time on November 7th. 
My son Jamie and his wife Lindsay had a boy Finn.  They were about to head 
to the hospital when Lindsay thoght she had to poop.  When she went to sit 
Jamie noticed the head crowning so he threw some towels in the bath tub and 
had Lindsey lie in it. I thought this was a smart idea.  I've been to a few 
births and they are pretty messy. He called 911 and they talked he through 
the delivery.  After delivering Finn and placing him on Lindsay's belly he 
answered the door to let in the lady next door who was to look after their 3 
year old son Will and the paramedics who clipped the umbilical cord and then 
took them to the hospital.

Th- th-th-that's all folks!!

Jim