A Brave New World!

       Sixteen and a half months later and twelve surgeries later this is not what I had in mind.  At 53 I had never broken a bone in my life.  It took a collision with a truck at 50 mph on April 5, 2014, to make up for all that.  The left femur was a compound fracture and in 108 pieces.  My left forearm  and elbow were in 76 pieces.   When I woke up three weeks later  my left arm was part bone part erector set and completely useless.  My left leg had what looked like a 67 Volkeswagen bumper bolted to it.  
       My wife had spent that time sleeping on the couch in ICU and though it took awhile for her concern for my life to be alleviated under it all she was pissed.   I was glad to be alive but Damn it hurt. More than once I thought I would have been fine for my life to have ended on that sunny spring day doing something I loved.  I was right with God and my fellow man.  I had the most important things in life, the unceasing love and devotion of a beautiful woman, two wonderful daughters, a loving supportive family, and loyal friends that would be there through thick and thin.  I have come to understand that for exactly those same reasons it would not have been alright to die on that stretch of road.  I also know now that I needed all those resources and more to make it through, for each of these people I am truly grateful.
      I have always said I would never say "Why ME?" if times got tough.  I can truly say I have not said that during this journey and that is exactly what it has become, a journey.  I spent months going through therapy, surgery, more therapy, and more surgeries.  I had unforeseen complications that could have caused me to loose what was left of my left leg as well as cause permanent damage to my organs.  I have pictures of the accident scene and me laying in the ditch with six EMT's surrounding me.  There are pictures of the motorcycle which was surprisingly lightly damaged considering the extent of my injuries.  Pictures also exist of every step of my recovery from wound care to xrays detailing what I've been through and it's far from over.  I will not subject anyone else to those or ask you to carry those images in your memory.
    I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what happened.  Was it my fault?  Was it someone else's fault?  I do not have any memory of the actual collision.  I do however vividly remember seeing a clear road ahead for several hundred yards before I glanced away.  My wife also says I told her I did my best to miss the truck during my limited moments of semi-consciousness  in ICU.  It truly no longer matters to me.  I should not have survived but I did.  Maybe there is a greater plan for me.  I know I have a great many things undone and the opportunity to correct that.
     I started another blog some years back "Lots of Small Circles" and abandoned it
for various reasons.  I made the following comment then:

"This decision lead me to take stock of my life. When I was 24 I had a major knee injury. I am 48 now major shoulder injury. What could I be looking at in another 24 years at 72? I decided to look a little deeper. From the age of 18 I looked every 6 years, then every 3 years. A pattern seemed to be surfacing that every 3 to 4 years some major life changing event took place. A marriage, the birth of a child, a divorce, death of a parent, injury, economic factors forcing a career change, remarriage, you can see where I am going with this. There are patterns in life, events that challenge us and shape us, make us who we are. Some of these events are under our control some are not. That my friend is where the rub is. If I have learned nothing else in life this is the one real truth I have observed in my life as well as the lives of others. It is not the events that shape our lives as much as how we deal with them. Everyday is a learning experience and filled with opportunities to be a better stronger person. It's not always about me, usually it's not about me."

This passage has stayed with me through all those years and the accident fell right in with that time line.  I have tried to make the highlighted phrase above my credo.  Never has this been truer than in the past sixteen months.   Living life in a wheelchair is to say the least challenging.  You quickly learn the difference between compliance and accessibility.  You also learn to adapt.
     This blog started out as a story of the transformation of a motorcycle.  It has become as I stated in an earlier post about the transformation of a man.   I have been given the opportunity to view life from a totally different perspective, to experience it in a totally different way.  That is a rare blessing indeed.  I understand so much more about my fellow man.  It doesn't matter how bad you think life is there is always someone worse off than you are; dealing with a hardship you can't imagine.   I have come to embrace these opportunities.  If it is a new way of doing an ordinary task or a new hobby there are new friends, new adventures, and new challenges around every corner.  It is indeed "A Brave New World!"

Joining and riding with groups or clubs.

The following post has been setting in draft for about 9 months.  There is a pretty good reason for that but I'll get to that in my next post.  In the mean time here it is.

      I guess I'm just a joiner.  Since returning to motorcycles I have joined three groups.  MSTA (Motorcycle Sport Touring Association), BMWMOCG (BMW Motorcycle Owners Club of Georgia), and MOA (BMW Motorcycle Owners of America).  They have all provided varying resources and oppertunities to meet and ride with like minded individuals.  Just like any group you get out of it what you are willing to put into it.  Another thing to remember is that it takes time to become an accepted member of any group.  Motorcycling is one activity that you need to be able to trust the individuals you are riding with.  This can only be developed over time.  In my area I am still looking for a group where the Special and I fit in.  The RT is a different story.

The Ride report below is about a recent MSTA ride.

SPUR—Spontaneous Urge to Ride.  That pretty much sums it up. 

The email appeared as follows:

 Lunch at the Beacon Drive-in  (www.beacondrivein.com/) in Spartanburg S.C. tomorrow 4/3/2014. Leaving Tallulah Falls Main Street Grill parking lot @10 and meeting another rider in Toccoa @10:30 at the Wal-mart parking lot near the fuel station. Just a good day for a ride. Tom Victor

I had already planned to take the day do an overnight but the weather forecast for Friday left me looking for an alternative.  This fit the bill.  The group contained 6 bikes and riders.  We took a leisurely pace out of Toccoa on Hwy 123 and ended up on HWY 11 out of Walhalla, SC.  This took us north of Greenville through some really stunning country side by Table Rock and Caesars Head.  Just outside of Toccoa the rider in front of me lost his map as it blew out of the pocket.  As luck would have it the map managed to catch on the front of my bike and I pulled over to remove it for fear it might be blocking my oil cooler.  When I stopped it fell to the ground.  I retrieved it and returned it to its owner when I rejoined the group where they had pulled over to wait.  We had a good laugh. 

Heading North on Hwy 11.

We arrived about 1:00 and settled in for lunch.  If you have never been to the Beacon you need to go.  Similar to the Varsity but not really.  I discovered what “A-Pleanty” is.  It’s on the menu and consists of whatever main course you order hidden under a mound of French fries and onion rings.  Lunch was interesting if unfinished.  “A-Pleanty” is for lack of a better word “A-Lot”!

In case you were wondering, this is what "A-Pleanty" looks like.

There is a chili cheese burger under there. I swear!

Flounder sandwich.  There is nothing healthy about it.

The obligitory group bike photo.

After lunch I suggested that we go back north and hit Caesars Head Hwy 276 to Brevard and maybe even the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Everyone agreed and I was promoted to Ride Leader somehow.  We needed to refuel so while we waited at the station I looked at the map on my tank bag and found Cleveland, SC on Hwy 11 near the road to Caesars Head.   The TOMTOM app on my iphone quickly produced a route right out of the parking lot.  The setting I use is “winding” in the app.  What ensued was what seemed like 20 or 30 turns until we reached our destination about 44 miles later.  I kept waiting for the pavement to end as each turn took us onto what seemed to be ever smaller and more remote roads.  The last being both narrower and more poorly paved than my drive-way.  Once on Hwy. 11 I knew where I was. 

The traffic was low as we turned onto Hwy. 276 and the ride to Brevard, NC was spirited to say the least.  In Brevard I stopped at the Methodist Church in hopes of showing everyone the legendary white squirrels.  After a few handshakes for the great route I had to admit that it was pure luck for the first part.  The GPS got all the credit, and I can say that is a first.  Remember I said I had a map on my tank bag.  Sad to say there were no white squirrels in sight, but we did get a few details on them  from a very friendly woman who lived nearby.  We decided it was too late to go farther north and headed back toward home down Hwy. 64 to Highlands, NC.  Once there we took Hwy. 28 south and then War Woman Road into Clayton, GA.  Once again I would qualify the pace as spirited.

This is a photo of a White Squirrel taken on an earlier trip.

Stopping in Clayton we picked up some refreshments and rode to Tom Victors current summer residence in Tallulah Falls, where we fellowshipped a little more then headed home in 2’s and 3’s.  It was overall a great day on the road as it usually is on an MSTA Ride.