Ride Journal
May 27, Day 15, Ratbike Milo's Ride Home
Sorry, No pics today
Last night when I was checking into the motel I saw a young guy in fatigues and I walked up to him and stuck out my hand and said that I want to thank him for his service to our country. I told him that I am Milo from Oregon. He said his name and hesitated and said he was from Iraq!! He was stationed nearby at Fort Riley, I think. He seemed surprised that I would come up to him but he said that he really appreciated it when he knew what I was doing.
I did it again; setting the alarm for 7:00 and I really got up at 6:00. I don't know why people set the clock an hour off and yet I still don't check it. Oh well, it got me on the road at 7:00 on another wet and windy day. This time I started with the rain gear on. That was a good decision, at least for the first 150 miles anyway. It is another very cold morning, yet I still found myself riding at 75 mph anyway. When I came upon a brown minivan (I think), it was raining so hard that I just pulled around to pass him on the right. It was at that point in time that I soon realized that the Kansas State Troopers drove brown minivans. Maybe it was because I backed off and was only going 5 mph over the speed limit that he did not concern himself with me. It's still all good!
At my first gas stop I figured out when I put in 4.98 gallons that I was only getting 23 mpg due to a tremendous head wind. I filled up and got right back on the road for more fun? It is what it is! Ya can't change the weather so ya might as well be prepared. The next fuel stop I only put in 4.65 and I figured that it was time for a cup of ‘warm me up stuff’. It was a few minutes before I quit shaking the coffee in my hand. I once again had the opportunity to tell a lot of curious onlookers about the NVAR ride. One guy just got back from his second tour in Iraq and thought that it was a pretty cool mission that I was just on with all my friends going back to Washington DC. There was a couple that I was talking to in the breakfast room back at the motel and I saw them at my last two fuel stops. He would get out of the car and talk to me each time. Now I am getting some feeling back in my fingers so it was time to go west some more.
I got a message from Terry from Brookeville, Ohio on my phone asking if I had heard what had happened. I called him back and all I could do was leave a message. So I called Steve (Headdog) Moore and left him a message to call me and tell me what happened. I finally heard from Terry at the next fuel stop and he told me that there was a wreck leaving DC. Headdog was on point in the left side of the slow lane leading 7 bikes about 50 miles out of town in Maryland. He saw a pickup start to move over in front of them cutting it pretty close. He just barely saw that it was towing a trailer when the right fender clipped the left saddle bag of his bike lifting it up and SLAMMING him and Tami down to the pavement at about 65 mph. That also took out Pops and TJ who were riding next to them. Tami landed in the middle of the fast lane and Steve off to the right. The other two were sliding everywhere. Luckily traffic was able to get stopped before making a bad situation real BAD! The gal driving the truck didn't stop right away so two riders out of the group went after them while the others tended to the fallen. The guy riding shotgun in the truck jumped out of the truck and the first thing he said was "Did you see that bike hit our trailer?" Well that wasn't going to fly, especially with about 30 or so witnesses. At least the gal had insurance. Terry said that his view point was, as soon as it happened there were bikes, bodies and parts flipping and sliding everywhere. He had to lock up his bike to keep from hitting someone or something and just barely got through! He said that his wife Dee tightened right up and held on like a trooper. From what it sounded like, everyone in the group got very lucky. Steve ended up with a broken ankle, and his wife Tami got a broken leg (lower Tibia) and Scott got road rash so bad that they had to knock him out to clean it all out. Everyone got a very severe case of road rash. Steve's bike slid about 75 yards down the freeway and Scott's bike did a couple of flips and stayed right there. Scott's bike had a lot more damage on it than Steve's did. They called Ray who was only about 20 miles away so he came and got the bikes in the trailer to take then back to Michigan City, Indiana. Tami had to have surgery done on her leg there in Maryland and had to spend the night in the hospital. I just spoke to Steve a few hours ago and they are both back home with their respective legs propped up and listening to each other moan! Thank God that everyone is ok with just a couple of broken bones. It could have been much worse!
My next stop was for fuel and a Subway sandwich. I then took off the rain gear as it was just starting to be some blue skies and a bit warmer. I called Noel and told him that I would be there in a couple of hours. Approaching the Rockies from the east looked awesome. I'm glad that I don't have to ride over them right away! Denver traffic sucks at 4:00. There were a couple of wrecks that had us stopped for a while. I finally got up to the Fort Collins area and took the Johnstown exit for SR 60 and got right to their house. It is great to settle down and not be in a motel , but be around more good folks. We had a good wild game dinner and I will do my two tires tomorrow..........
