Ohio...a surprising state ...Part II

Today's title is a major understatement. For those who may not have heard my ride came to a dramatic and sudden end in the little town of Delaware. About 20 miles into the ride on Monday - scheduled at 97 miles to Wooster -I was preparing to make a left turn and somehow collided with a Harley Davidson coming from my rear - as you might guess a thousand pound motorcycles versus a 20 pound bike does not make for real good odds for the cyclist. I have virtually no memory of the accident so what I know now is based a couple of bits and pieces I've picked up from others. The first thing I remember was perhaps ten minutes after the crash when I looked up from the ground and saw a police officer crouched in front of me and one of my water bottles just beyond his foot. The next thing I knew they were strapping me to a board and loading me on a helicopter for a trip to the Ohio State University Med Center . Believe it or not one of my thoughts on the helicopter was that maybe I was banged up a little and if the bike was OK maybe I could be back on the road for Wednesday's ride....boy, was that ever naive. The bottom line is that the bike is history, cracked in several places, my helmet was broken in three different places, and I am more than just a little banged up. And by the way the helmet did it's job - there is no question that it saved my life. Relatively small investment with a huge return. I have not even had a headache since the accident. (And that may be the only place that is not hurting at this point.) Along with numerous aches and pains I have a broken left ankle (and was very grateful to avoid surgery), broken left leg in the non weight bearing bone (fibula), a crack in one of the thoracic vertebrae - again, fortunately just a crack, no structural damage. Beyong that some road rash and one cut that required stitches in the elbow. All in all it sure could have been a lot worse. My first meeting yesterday with the physical therapist was total disaster. My system is so messed up that I could not expand the effort required by the walker without fianlly passing out. We tried again today and things went much better - even with IVs I managed to climb a few stairs and get in a walk across the room with the walker, albeit laboriously and with help. And speaking of help....my brother Dick and Nancy came down from Detroit on Tuesday and left a couple of hours ago. Susan drove from L'vile with daughter Katherine (and Carolyn - all full of life and bounce at 18 months) Katherine also flew back today but Susan will hopefully be driving us home tomorrow.I told her a litttle while ago that while professional medical and nursing care is wonderful (and it is) a little TLC is absolutely priceless. I did enjoy doing this blog and loved the comments - thank you. And I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. In spite of some hard days and difficult weather at times the ride was about adventure and challenge and I truly had fun most of the time. I am pleased I did 2/3s of America on a bike and am indescibably disappointed that I am not doing the final segment. I saw this country and it's people in ways that you can only imagine from a car. I will be re-living this in my head for a long time. I also met an incredible group of people, the folks who did the ride with me. All of us of varying ages and abilities but united in a common purpose; it was truly like discovering a new family. I miss not seeing you in the morning for breakfast, not seeing you on the road, and certainly will miss not riding in formation to the Atlantic Ocean. I may still have a couple of things to say and may add another post or two. I need to do the math and tally uo the mileage as well as a few other thoughts that did not get into the daily blog. And I need to start shopping for a new bike...maybe that will be the next photo.