An Unexpected Turn On Day Three
Heading to Loa the day before.
On the morning we were pulling out of Denver on this RMMRC California trip my body did not want to get out of bed. I forced myself and figured I’d get fully awake after a while. And I did. Then we rode to Fruita–not a hard day’s ride at all–and I was exhausted. I crashed before dinner and then after dinner crashed again, getting a good, long night’s sleep.
On Day Two I was glad we had a short day ahead because that allowed me to sleep late–because I was still not feeling wonderful. Then the ride to Loa was not at all hard but when we got there I crashed again. After dinner I was back in bed and during the night I had a fever and chills. Around 2 a.m. the fever seemed to break and I felt better but I did not get much sleep the rest of the night. But come morning I figured the worst was over so at 9:30 I was in the saddle ready to ride.
Just then I was overcome with a wave of sickness and sprawled across my tank, telling the guys via our Cardos that “I can’t do this. I’m going back to the motel.” This was no longer a 15-day trip for me.
Back at the Snuggle Inn I walked in and up to the desk and before I could say a word the guy at the desk looked at me and asked, “Is your heart OK? Are you having a heart attack?” That’s how bad I felt, and I guess it showed.
I was pretty sure it was not a heart attack because I had spoken to Judy the night before and she had told me that the same day I didn’t want to get out of bed to go on this ride, after I left she spent the whole day in bed, apparently suffering from the same thing I was. But these super kind folks at the Snuggle Inn were incredibly solicitous of my condition, offering to loan me their car to drive to a nearby clinic or even to drive me there themselves if need be. All I wanted at the moment though was to get back in bed.
And except for going down the street a block to the grocery store so I’d have something to eat, that was all I did the rest of that day. The guys went on to St. George as planned and my room in St. George was paid for but empty because it was too late for me to cancel. Meanwhile, later in the day as I was feeling at least a little better, I made a bunch of phone calls cancelling all my other reservations for this trip.
I considered mapping out a very different trip for myself that would bring me back with the group on their return but really all I wanted was to get home. Being sick on the road is the worst.
Biker Quote for Today
Any idiot can ride a motorcycle but it takes a special kind of idiot to ride 1,000 miles in one day.
