I did not fall down......

Not falling down, not breaking anything, wonderful people, wonderful support from Colleen, great riding county, beautiful weather, great location, White Rock Mountain in Arkansas, http://www.whiterockmountain.com/ , all made for a great weekend.

What happened: ( Sorry for not remembering all names, I'm doing this in the AM. I don't do AM's nor remember names well. )

Rained for days before the event. ( SLAP = Squeal Like A Pig -- don't ask cause I don't know) ...

DRZ Charlie, who this day is off with his son on a 3 week ride :eek: , called and said he did not have room for tables on his truck. We stopped and got tables... Then climbed the mountain.... Had cell service up there, Who would a thunk?

Unloaded and would spend the night in the bunkhouse. This prep for the group took the rest of the evening. I did fire up RednBlack just to be able to take a cruise around the event grounds.

Mike B ( Bell47 Pilot) and two more arrived also. Aimed a fan at my bed and crashed.

Friday:

Coffee with Doc at 0 in the morning.
Prep for the event.
Move personal stuff to the cabin we would share with Travis, Kathy, Joe & Kimberly. (couples group 1 )
There were 2-3 other females attending...

Headed off to scout a slow ride with picture taking opportunities and easy water crossings for pictures.
Other folks were arriving and it was back to trying to help work horse DRZ Charlie, who had been at it all day, get ready for the evening feed. Colleen had be helping also along with Kriss ( TerraScout who brought extra food.)
Just after dark Colleen & I crashed in bed.

Saturday:

Ride groups and solo's were leaving right and left. Travis, Kathy, David & Eric were silly nuff to go with me.
First ½ mile, my tire tool bag fell off. Put that under Eric's bungee net.
A couple miles later Travis' R-650 got cranky so the up shot of that was that He & wife Kathy would go back and ride two up on his VStorm to catch up with us. They got to Oark cafe before us. We had made a detour for a water & fuel break. (Only time I have too much fuel is when I am on fire.)

After lunch Travis & Kathy decide to head back to the lodge, they were lucky.

Eric, David & I opt to go on with the planned ride.
We played in the water.

We then decided to take a route I had not done that DrLewall had suggested. I had been bragging the night before about my map reading skills and my ability to, in general know where I was, from all the years of flying. ( You know where this is going .... right? )

So were are having a rocking good time until we get to one corner. We hemmed and hawed and Eric & I using our GPS units came up with the decision. Both units were set wrong in the same way.

Off we go and are having a good time but it was feeling like it was taking too long and I was not remembering some sights I should have from scouting Friday.

We now finally arrive at the water crossings we had played at earlier. ( " Uh guys, this looks real familiar.." ) RUT ROW !!!!

More discussion & we decide to go back the easy, faster, know for sure way. Had to go to get fuel & drinks first. Back track some, fueled and watered, and then we are off again with a few more stops so David can help Eric & I with our riding technique. ( He was helping us all day. )

DrLewall and his fast trackers blow by us and they were on a 200 mile run. We had started a 46 mile loop.

We did get back, 113 miles, 8,5 hours and an embarrassed ride leader. ( But, but, but, I did not fall down. Well neither did David or Eric, but just sayin ..... )

Dinner and yakkin was again a really nice end to the day.

Sunday was packing and cleaning for us while some went for more rides. We got that pretty much done, waved at Doc and headed down the mountain. Took the slow way home, found an junk store open that we have been trying to get in ever since we moved to the area so Colleen got her highlight to the week end and then back to the house to let kitties out.

They had done some stuff to show their displeasure at being inside for the better part of three days but it was not as bad as it could have been.

I might get the rest unloaded today and I might not. Moving kinda slow..... Must mean I had a good time.....

I am on the list for next year already....

:::: Picture is the link to the album. :::::

Christmas thoughts.

It is very easy for me to procrastinate this time of year. Even more so than normal. I tell myself that nothing is more important than the Santa stuff. This results in a lot of little daily chores getting way behind which then puts me in a blue funk because I can not turn a blind eye.

Now my Dad would say to us kids, "Laying on your death bed I bet you won't say, "I wish I had worked more." when you are like me and a lot closer to being there." This lecture occurred when we would get in a dither about doing stuff to keep up with the neighbors or some such at the expense of our own families well being.

What is really important in the long run? I have no clue. Where is the correct balance?

We have a couple of more 'Santa' gigs to go before we can relax. Family gatherings to go to or not, decisions, decisions. What is the weather going to do. Presents for all or some or not? ( I'm am voting for 'pet rocks' this year. Works for me!)

My dirt bike needs some work and the last really nice riding days are passing quickly.

That is a really puny list of things to gripe about. :::: sheesh :::::

Back in the day when the money was gone, I was taking my circular saw to the pawn shop, was riding a old cast off 10 speed bike to work and the bills were such that I was just getting deeper and deeper in the hole I was told that they would not shoot me. I would not starve. I would get back if I just kept plugging away. Over my life I have found that to be true twice.

One of the hardest things to learn was to say, "Thank you." and then shut up. No adjectives, no but's, no promises, no qualifiers, just "Thank you."

Pass it forward.

In AA there is a saying, "If you are busy helping someone stay sober, it is very difficult to get drunk."

No matter how far down I am, broke, out of work, just divorced, my child just killed, there is always someone who has it worse and even if all I can give is time or a single dollar, or a used item, or a kind word, my burden is lifted.

This is lot of preaching from the likes of me but I need to actually say it out loud once in a while because then it is real. All those things I just think of saying sound real good in my head but they carry no weight, have no meaning.

Thinking means nothing, only action counts and only action can show me the joy and goodness of my life.

This is out there now. I can't take it back.

I feel better already.

Gus says:

It was a great day and Colleen was staying around the house because it was MissyFace's first time to be turned loose since her accident 6 months or so ago. Warm, not too much traffic in the middle of the week and the time to keep an eye on her.

Me, I went for a ride.

I still need to learn how to download my GPS track but all in all, I had a good time and got to take 'Blue' to places she has not been. Well, me either.

The pictures in the album have comments with them.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cold again. We got to 70 for a while today.

Not bad for a guy with 1 ½ useful hands.

If it ain't one thing it's t'uther.

If it ain't one thing it's t'uther.

Gus thought he needed to cut me some little chunks of wood.

The Skil Saw didn't agree.

It slipped, he cut his left thumb 3/4 the way off.

We're back home after breaking speed limits, 8 hours of all sorts of fun, and a surgery.

Yes yes.

Pics to come.

Some gory, some xrays.

More details as I can get it typed, and coffee kicks in.

Later -------------------------

Good news first. He *may* have some movement in the thumb, if all heals as it should. That was in doubt before they put it back together.
It has 2 pins, and is in a cast.

At 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon, it's always a good idea to start a scary project. A cold and windy day, despite the sun. I wasn't about to get layered up and do a major firewood cutting. He wanted to just do a few chunks for my woodstove.

But I was listening. Yes I was.
Roowwwrrrr zngzngzngzng !
@#$%#@! Scream.
Up from the couch, look out the window, run and grab towels, meet him at the back door.
WHAT???
I cut my blankety blank thumb off!!

Stand there. Wait! Let me get a ziploc and ice...paper towel...dammit dammit dammit, okay...

New speed record for getting dressed, things gathered, grab a change of tshirt and shorts, he swallows pain pills, GET IN THE TRUCK! make sure house doors are locked, beat on hood of truck (sorry kitties, if you're in there this time you are toast) and away we went.

There are 3 ways off this mountain to where we were going. None are good. Finally agreed on the interstate after we hit the flats. Had lights and flashers going. Not that any other drivers paid attention to that.
Should we have gone to local hospital and saved a few minutes? Maybe, but I don't trust that they would have enough staff on weekends, so probably would have been sent on anyway.
We have Life Flight, but he wasn't spurting blood, and we would have had to driven to meet them. Lag time for them to lift off and get here.

Fortunately, Saturday afternoon is a good time for this traffic on interstate. And 85 mph top speed is all I want to go in that truck, less for some of the miles.
Not. One. Single. Cop. Seen.
Whether that is good or bad, I don't know.

We had a friend call ahead, Gus is in their computer system. Heh. Didn't matter, as far as filling out paperwork.
But they did send us directly to Triage. Having his hand in a bag of red colored ice might have helped.

Hurry up and wait. All staff attentive, helpful, doing as they should. Still, seemed like forever, the halls are a mile long, and there were several every which a way.

The ride home was much slower.
I had already gotten his prescription filled.
He has drugs and a sling.

Gus says "While getting my cut hand out of my torn glove, I thought to myself, this will be a good Photo Op...

And I was trying to hold my hand above my heart, in the position causing the least pain.

Colleen says "I may have to Kill him."

I went sailing.

In February & March of 1978, I sailed without and engine from Catoosa Oklahoma to the Mississippi River. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The journey.

Hardtail chopper in the dirt.

Took Spot across a mountain today .... Good ride...

In two parts here.

Link to Albums.

Lots of pictures to kill time with.