imported post
notodd wrote:
Not to be a pain, but how did he go down.. Hope he is going to be ok.. Prayers
Not being a pain at at notodd. We rolled into an area of construction while in the right hand lane. There was a sign that said divided lanes (meaning different height) I never saw it - he did. I had cruise set and was in front. Slow rolled around the truck into left lane. At the very point we came alongside the truckthe lane height difference must have started because there was no drop switching from right to left (right side then became higher). We came around the truck and rolling back into the right lane I felt the jolt as my bike hit the higher lane pavement (about 3"!). I didn't see the change maybe because of the angle of the sun who knows but must have noticed at the last moment and grabbed the bars tight because I was o.k.
I spun in my seat to wave him off but it didn't help. He was down and rolling at or near 70MPH. I believe he may have been "head checking" on the truck we were passing as he hit the side of the lane pavement and instantly went down. What I saw of it was horrible. How he came out of it as well as he did I can't explain. His helmet saved his life for sure (check out pic in my gallery)and his jacket and fleece he was wearing saved him from road rash. God must have done the rest. Some more bruising is showing up each day which makes sense but we stayed at the Hampton Inn instead of Intensive care that night so all things considered things couldn't have worked out better.
I kept waiting for the bad news to come-but it never did. He has a fractured but not displaced collar bone, finger tipshad superficial cutsbecause of half gloves, only a few bruises small and some abrasions from his clothes so no asphalt to clean out.
(However new bruises are showing up).
He thankfully doesn't remember anything other than passing the truck and then waking up to people standing over him.
I pulled over and started running to the spot he laid which was behind a car that had pulled between us to help. I wasn't even sure if the truck had been able to avoid running over him. There were people all around him. After a short time I realized he was intact and appeared ok. I also realized that the woman holding his head and telling him to lay still was a doctor. She was traveling behind us with her husband who stayed in the car to call for help. Another car had two or three nurses. They were out helping (wearing stethoscopes!), The 3rd car was an off duty EMT-his car had emergency lights and he had parked to block traffic from the right lane. They all stayed with him until the ambulance arrived and took him. I am forever grateful to these people though I don't even know their names.
The accident was terrible but everything else went right after that. I hope he can recover fully and not suffer any complications from this mental or otherwise.
Riding home was tough for me on Sunday after his wife picked up. The accident kept playing in my mind and was made worse by the labor day traffic. At one point an SUV with Wisconsin plates cut me off passing me on the right trying to beat a truck merging from the onramp. As if that wasn't bad enough when I beeped thinking he just didn't see me he gave me the finger. I forced myself to get off at the next exit and calm down-wanted to kill him. Some people just suck.
Anyway thanks for any thoughts and prayers. It helps to "talk" about it. Most people that don't ride listen and only minimally hide the fact that they don't approve of motorcycling or worse use it as an I told you so opportunity.
