From Illinois to Baraboo WI by way of Ohio

[Ves]

Some trips just don't go as planned and this was one of them; bittersweet:
- 400 miles of rain
- Near record cold temperatures
- Nearly 800 miles of WI's twistiest roads
- One damaged bike
- One fractured Tibia

I can't sit here long enough to tell this story right now, but I'll leave you with these photos and I'll fill in the blanks as I get the chance.

The thrill of the twisty open road...





The agony of defeat...

[sjbmw]

That sux. Picture is worth 1000 words here for sure. Man, I'm sorry.

But, we need to hear the details of all possible outcomes, and have cyber beers over it, in order to keep our hobby vibrant, and the connections working.

Since you are less mobile, I offer you my favorite beer I can't get where I live, and miss a lot.

[Boxer]

The tragic part of this sad story is that you didn't even get to attend the Bash...and you still ended up like this with having to hang out with the two Steves.

[iowabeakster]

Heal quickly Ves.

Broken tibia...ouchy ouchy ouchy ouchy.

When Steve (ou812) said you had a "get-off". I was all set for some "getting-off" jokes. This isn't so funny.

Don't put yourself in unneccessary pain... but we need deatails!!!

Heal quickly...

[OU812]

Wait til you see the pics at the hospital.
All I can say is the view in my mirror was surreal. He made the turn and got the rear tire off in the gravel. SteveST1100 never tried and just ended up doing a U turn in the field.(cloud of dust obscured Steve's view of the road upon re-entry)

[OU812]

Before we hooked up with Ves we got to get into the "secret society" of Morel mushrooms.

Stayed at my buddy Steve's friend Kurt's place . Really nice in Hudson WI.

[jfslater98]

Wait til you see the pics at the hospital.

Ves was wearing a helmet, correct?

[rdsmith3]

now Ves is a fun-guy

[OU812]

Wait til you see the pics at the hospital.

Ves was wearing a helmet, correct?

Yes he had his helmet on. No that is not a pic of his brain.

[OU812]

now Ves is a fun-guy

He always has been. Took it very well. Better than I for sure.

[Ves]

Thanks for the well wishes, beer and fungi(?)... I'm going today to get a CT scan in prep for surgery Tuesday... They need to reposition the part of my "tibial plane" that broke off, and put a plate in there to hold it while it heals... 3 months no weight on the leg... OY!!!

Yes, I was wearing my helmet, riding gloves, boots, jacket, and jeans with double layer in the knees. It all held together and did it's job. The helmet is definitely toast. I actually had a bit of a sore spot on my head from the impact, but that's gone. My shoulder is a bit sore, but the knee is the worst of it.

Let me just say, I have no one to blame but myself. Going too fast, pushing too hard, on an unfamiliar road, add some gravel, and I'm done... The good news is that there was 800 miles of fantastic riding before that... Just not sure it was worth my entire summer...

Bike will be going in the shop today to see what can be done... I'd hate to lose it...

[Ves]

Alright, so how did this all start?

Well, I had reservations to go to Beakster Bash with the wife. But as the day drew nearer she had her doubts about wanting to ride the challenging WV roads, being that she has very little experience. She finally decided not to go. The original plan was to trailer both bikes there, but since she wasn't going I decided I'd ride and meet up with with Steve, re-Steve, and Jeff, and we'd go to WV together.

The day before departure, the weather was looking like crap, and the Steve's decided to take the option and head North to WI. Thought hard about it and figured I'd take my changes and meet up with Jeff.

Morning of departure came, and sure enough it had rained that night, but seemed to be slowing down in the morning. By the time I left it was just a sprinkle. I figured I'd catch up with the storm, blast through it, and hopefully get some sunshine. No such luck.

Except for maybe 20 miles worth, the whole time from IL to OH was rain, more rain, and cold. The rain suit did an admirable job keeping me dry, but I still haven't figure out how to keep my hands dry for that many miles... and my perpetual optimism, kept me from putting on my boot covers, so my hands and feet were soaked. My only salvation was the heated grips on the bike. I couldn't feel any heat coming off them, but if I lifted my hand off the grip it was obvious they were working. I was sucking up every bit of heat they were generating. I stopped for gas, had a couple granola bars for lunch, and kept my head down. My hands turned this crazy purple color on the inside... I'd never seen anything like it... don't know if it was from the 7 hours of being wet, or the heat from the grips, or what... I just know I was thankful when I got to my hotel room and called my Wife and Jeff (in that order) to say I was there:

[OU812]

The purple color is from the dye in the gloves. I have had the same experience.
Pics from the hospital?

[Ves]

The purple color is from the dye in the gloves. I have had the same experience.
Pics from the hospital?

Ah Man... where's your sense of suspense... OK, fine... here's the hospital pictures... The second one is a link only because there was some kind of bird flying around the ER when it was taken, and I know some people are afraid of birds, so I don't want to scare anyone...



Here's the bird picture... http://www.vesware.com/WV2009TripReport ... alBird.jpg

Sorry, I know, the legs are scary looking too...

This was taken not long after I got back from taking X-rays. I have a blanket on me cause the moving around of the leg during X-rays was so painful I started breathing irregularly and hyperventilated, so they had to warm me up and calm me down... Whew... I hate that feeling...

So, Steve (OU812) came in the room first, the nurse escorted him in... then later the other Steve comes in... the nurse is like... Don't you have any friends who's names are not Steve... I said, no, I can't remember names and this makes it easy...

[Ves]

So, anyway, back to the story. After talking with Jeff on the phone for a while we decided to go grab dinner at a local Mexican Joint. Dinner never tasted so good. We talked and laughed, had a few XX's, and I gradually warmed up and got my senses back. Jeff, thanks for dinner again, it was great to meet you and spend that time.

Back at the Motel I applied some of Jeff's advice... to stuff newspapers in my boots; the paper wicks the moisture out and helps them to dry faster... worked great.

The plan for the next day was to leave later in the morning because there was a storm moving through in the evening. Well, I woke up the next morning and this is what I saw on the weather channel... headed for us:



Along with this came an increased chance of rain for the upcoming days. The more I watched the weather the more I contemplated heading back home. I had enough of the cold rain thing for one trip. Sure enough, Jeff calls and asks if I've been watching the weather. It was either leave now and outrun the thing, and hope for the best in WV, or bail. I was really torn, cause I really wanted to get on those WV roads... but I bailed.

On the way back home it rained for approximately the first 100 miles or so... but fortunately the rest of the miles home were dry, and after stopping at a rest stop for lunch, I was finally able to shed the rain gear.

Here's a random scene that caught my attention along the way:



That night the wife and I discussed how to salvage our vacation and I called the Steves to see what their plans were. They were roaming around Northwestern WI, so trying to meet them was really not feasible since they had a couple days start on me. So, the plan was for the wife and I to trailer the bikes Friday morning and head up to Baraboo WI, which has THE nicest roads in WI just West of there and, convenient for her, a casino... That sealed the deal.

[OU812]

So I called Ves and asked where they were staying. He told me Baraboo and I said we could meet up halfway and ride back. I have given many a $$$ to the Ho-Chunk casino there (during family visits to the Dells) and suggested (to Steve) we stay the night in Baraboo and head home Monday. Yes the Indians got me again!
The rest is history.

[Boxer]

Hey! I really love the "Two Guys Telling the Same Story From Different Perspectives" format. Keep it up!

Now tell me...Is Ves wearing one nylon stocking in that hospital bed thing?

[OU812]

Now tell me...Is Ves wearing one nylon stocking in that hospital bed thing?

Yes, I think you are right Phil. Good catch!

[Ves]

Now tell me...Is Ves wearing one nylon stocking in that hospital bed thing?

Yes, I think you are right Phil. Good catch!

Oh man... you weren't suppose to say anything...
Well, since the cat is out of the bag now... I confess I also wear womens underwear, and the actual reason I crashed is because at that very moment it crawled up my crack and distracted me... Now we all know the truth...

[Ves]

Ok, so here we are Friday morning, right before noon, and both our bikes (wife's and mine) are on the trailer and we're ready to head north. Took me a while cause I had to reposition one of the chocks on the trailer for her shorter bike. But we had plenty of time.

Guess what, it's going to rain... . In fact just as we get in the car, it starts. Fine... at least I'm dry... But I do have to stop at the gas station and add some pressure to the cars rear tires and get some gas...

As I'm driving to the gas station I realize something is wrong with my trailer lights. Last time I used it they worked fine, but now all I have is trailer running light, and every time I step on the brakes the daytime running light on my car go off and my right front turn signal comes on, and as long as my brake is depressed my turn signals don't flash... There's no way I'm figuring out this wiring problem now. At least the break light on the car work... close enough...

I get gas and pull over near the air pump. I put in my 75 cents to get the pump running and proceed to pump up the first tire... All of a sudden I realize my butt is getting really wet... Yeah, it's raining, but not that hard... I look over and there are two of these ground level grass sprinklers on, and one is pointed directly at me...

Is anyone seeing a pattern here?

So, I ask the wife to come out of the car, get rained on, and stick her foot over the sprinkler long enough to deflect the water and let me pump up this tire... I get that done and we get in the car... Now she's wet from the rain, her foot is all soaked, my whole side is wet, and she's pissed... but I'm not done yet... I have to back this thing up and I know there's this median thing close behind me, but I can't see where it ends, so she has to get out and direct me... and gets more wet...

At this point... how many of you think we should have just cut our losses, gone home, and slept? Well, we didn't... we should have... but we didn't...

Of course it poured for most of the trip up to Baraboo... but it did clear up and the bikes got a good air drying before we arrived at our Hotel at about 3:30.