28 August 2009My riding buddy Rick from Ft Worth, TX and I had been planning this ride for over a year. We planned to meet in Albuquerque, NM and ride for 15 days through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona, seeing about every National Park and many points of interest along the way. Hotel reservations were made as well and reservations to ride the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and the Verde Canyon Railroad during our trip.
Back when I started planning this ride, I coaxed Rick into fixing up his vintage Yamaha XS 1100, which he hadn’t ridden for over 15 years. Rick began the tedious process of tearing it down and restoring his bike from the bottom up right away. A lot of effort went into getting it ready to run for the first time. I was there visiting him and his family when he has about ready to try it out. We finished putting the carbs back together, connected the gas tank, with 15 year old gas in it, hook up the boat battery to give it plenty of spark and gave it a shot. We tried the electric starter and kicked it over several times. Then we checked to see if the carbs were getting gas and tried it again. After a few more kicks and leaning on the electric starter a few more times the bike began to show signs of life. It was running but only on two cylinders. Over the course of several weeks, Rick got it running on all four. Several new (old stock) parts had to be located and ordered, and the day finally arrived when Rick felt it was ready to test ride. It didn’t idle very well, but ran strong at higher RPM. Rick was satisfied with the bikes performance, so it was beginning to look like the Four Corner States Ride would happen.
Mean while I was getting my 2008 Road King Classic fixed up. I had Earl Burley of Burley Performance upgrade the engine from 96cc to 103cc including cam and gearing changes. I also had it dyno-tuned, so now puts out 98 HP and 106 ft/lbs of torque, that’s about a 30% improvement over stock. Over the course of the next month, I road it frequently to break the engine in smoothly. By the end of August it would be ready to go.
We made some changes to the plan, to work in the Cumbres Toltec Rail Road ride. So now we would be meeting in Durango, CO instead of Albuquerque, NM. With all the details worked out, I was packed and ready to head out on Friday August 28. I’d be stopping in Kingsman, AZ and again in Tuba City AZ before meeting up with Rick in Durango, CO.
August 28, 2009
Weather was cooperative, but hot. The hydrator vest I’d brought came in handy as well as the camelback filled with cold water. I made it to Kingman with no problems, but tired and hot. I’d planned to check out the Grand Canyon Skywalk if there was time and there was.
The Skywalk is a glass walkway on Hualapai tribal grounds which extends out over the Grand Canyon sixty-six feet. I was looking forward to the experience. I headed north out of Kingman on I-95 toward Bolder City, NV and turned east to head toward the Skywalk. This road eventually turned into dirt, but was grated fairly well, so not much of a problem for a street bike. Closer to the Indian reservation where the Skywalk is located the road worsened, but I’d come along way and decided to stick it out. It got worse yet. For a couple miles the road turns into thick gravel. This was a challenge to ride through, but I made to the reservation without any problems. The cost to experience the skywalk itself is additional to entering the reservation and the tram that gets you there. Plan to spend $100 if you decide to eat there as well. Admission to the park is $50 and it costs an additional $30 just to walk out onto the walkway. You are not permitted to take cameras onto the skywalk, but photographers stationed there are happy to take your picture for an additional fee. In all, I felt the experience was not worth the effort or cost and I still had the ride back through the gravel and dirt road. I took a more direct route back to Kingman when I made it back to the blacktop. The road was pretty deserted. I passed maybe ten cars the whole way back into town.
Back at Kingman, I was ready to check out the pool and get cooled off, but it was closed for repair and my bike was filthy with road dirt. I got some rags from the hotel front desk and got to work. After an hour, it was presentable again. The ice bucket from the hotel room was now a muddy mess, but it cleaned up alright.
August 29, 2009
The road to Tuba City was uneventful, albeit hot. The bike was running smoothly and strong with the engine upgrades. Passing slower vehicles was simply a matter of a little more throttle, even in sixth gear.
August 30, 2009
I made it to Durango in the early afternoon. The weather had cooled off considerably and there were some rain clouds in the area. I made it to the hotel room and check in. I expected Rick at any time.
No sooner had I unpacked and cleaned up the bike a bit that Rick arrived. His Yamaha ran great from Ft Worth with no problems. After unloading his gear we went for lunch and then a ride up the Million Dollar Highway north out of Durango toward Silverton. We didn’t get far before the rain clouds opened up, and poured out more rain than we cared to deal with, so we headed back to the hotel.
August 31, 2009
The next day the weather had improved and there was no rain in the forecast. We headed toward downtown on foot and caught the trolley to the train station. The Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a great train ride along the Animas River. The canyon route is narrow and very picturesque.
The train crosses the canyon half way up to Silverton and goes over an old trestle where the train releases extra steam to slow the train and stabilize the water in the boiler, before heading up the canyon on the eastern side. The effect of crossing the trestle and the train releasing steam is dramatic. The trip is pretty long since the train’s maximum speed is 13 mph, but we finally made it to Silverton. Silverton is a great little town that looks much the way it did a century ago. Most income in the town is based on based on tourism, but the town was started back in the mid-1800s for mining silver. We got several pictures had lunch at Sugar Bear’s café and hopped back on the train heading back to Durango.
Back in town we decided to head over to Mama Boy’s Italian Restaurant for dinner. Dinner was excellent and filling. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the next day. We needed to get up early to make it to the Cumbres Toltec Train Ride in Chama NM. That night however, I took my sleep medication a little late and spent a restless night.
September 1, 2009
In the morning, I mentioned to Rick that I felt half asleep still, but we started out anyway. We had a train to catch. We made it to Pagosa Springs and stopped for breakfast. After breakfast, I still felt tired, but I’d ridden tired before. Maybe not quite this tired however.
I few miles out of Pagosa Springs I was following Rick and became drowsy. The next thing I knew, I was riding on the shoulder of the road. I began slowing down and tried a couple of times to carefully get back on the asphalt, but was not successful. After the second attempt failed, I continued to slow, when the right-side engine guard and right floor board contacted the ground. The bike slowed down very fast, but I didn’t. I was airborne for a few seconds and hit the ground pretty hard, rolling several times before coming to a stop. I had some aches and pains, but got up and removed my gloves and helmet with some difficulty. I made my way up to the bike to check on it. There was some obvious damage to the engine guard and the saddle bags, but other than that it did not look in too bad of shape. I did some additional assessment on myself and could tell I had a few broken bones. Rick arrived back at the scene wondering what happened. I didn’t have a good answer for him, but felt I must have dozed off for a moment. I decided to sit down. No position felt very comfortable standing, sitting or laying down. A few cars stopped to help. One guy with a radio called Pagosa Springs Hospital and requested an ambulance. The ambulance arrived quickly, assessed my condition and carted me off to the hospital. There was not much activity at the hospital accept for those helping me. X-rays indicated three broken ribs on the left side a broken clavicle and pinky finger. On the right side, a severely commutated fracture of the wrist. With this much broken stuff, the ride was over.
While laying there trying to figure out what to do, my cell phone rang. Rick answered it. My wife Shanna was on the line. Rick handed me the phone. She had a question about the computer, it seemed the internet at home did not work. I explained how to reset it as best I could. She sensed something in my voice and asked it everything was okay. I had to tell her the bad news.
There were a couple of options from this point, stick around Durango area until the doctors could operate on me (three day wait) or head for home and check in with my own doctor. We decided on the latter. Rick volunteered to leave his bike at the hospital, rent a car and drive me home to Ridgecrest, some 800+ miles one way. I explained our plans to my wife and we started making preparations.
The bike has hauled to Durango Harley Davidson awaiting insurance agent inspection and direction to begin repairs. Rick got the rental car packed and the hospital staff helped me into the car. The drive home was good and bad. It was not easy to remain comfortable in one position very long. Rick had to continually stop and help me get adjusted. When we stopped for the night, he had to help me out of the car plus carry in all the baggage from both our bikes. He also helped me in and out of bed, etc. That was the bad. The good was we had a lot of time to talk about things and get to even better acquainted with each other.
September 3 – 4, 2009
A couple days later, we arrived home. Shanna was happy we made it safely and we were both grateful for Rick’s help. Rick spent the night and left the next day for Pagosa Springs. He arrived a couple days later without any trouble and found his bike just as he left it.
I spent the next few days generally in pain despite the great meds provided by the hospital and pharmacy. I was happy that I could at least use my XBOX 360 hand controller. Shanna had made an appointment with the Southern California Orthopedic Institute (SCOI) in Bakersfield for Tuesday. Rick left on a Friday. So I had a few days to wait before seeing a doctor.
Rick decided to finish at least part of the ride we started and left Pagosa Springs to see Mesa Verde, but when he got there his Yamaha started running poorly. One of the coils quit functioning, so the motor was running on two of four cylinders. Finding a replacement coil would not easy in fact it turned out to be impossible. Rick headed back to Fort Worth TX on two cylinders, stopping at nearly every gas station along the way. Rick said of his experience, “It was like riding a 600 lb Moped at 50 mph, that gets 20 miles per gallon”. Rick did finally make it back safely to Ft Worth and is in the process of fixing up his bike again.
September 8, 2009
When we did finally get in to see the doctor, there was some good and bad news. X-rays showed that my left wrist was not that bad, but I also had broken my left ring finger. The doctor’s assistant for the broken ribs and clavicle said there was not much that could be done about them and that they would heal the way they were. That was not an acceptable answer to me, my clavicle simply had to be repaired. I could live with the broken ribs. The wrist doctor indicated he cold not fit me into his schedule for a few days, but that surgery needed to be performed sooner than that anyway. He recommended Dr. Shapiro. I asked him if Dr. Shapiro was as good as he was. He looked me in the eye and said he would let him work on himself. I decided that was good enough for me. Dr. Shapiro came in. He looked about in his mid twenties. I wondered how much experience he had. He introduced himself as a trauma surgeon and began to explain the situation to me. He began to draw on the paper sheet covering the examination bed what my situation was. He outlined my clavicle break and my wrist and finger breaks were. I could tell he knew what he was talking about I had already checkout the x-rays. His plans were to install an external fixator on my right wrist, a plate on the right ring finger and a plate on my clavicle after adjusting all the bones back into place. He indicated he was available tomorrow. I thought this was great news and was ready for him to get to work. After some initial hospital check-in procedures, we headed home and back again the next morning.
September 10, 2009
We got all checked in and the anesthesiologist came into see me. They hooked me up wheeled me into another room and that’s about all I remember. When I woke up a few hours later I felt great. The pain in my wrist was minimal and I was lying comfortable with the new plate holding my clavicle together. The ribs still hurt if I moved very much, but I felt much better. Dr. Shapiro had to leave right after he finished fixing me up for another accident injury. I found out later that he was called away to help another patient that had been admitted because he was not able to breathe very well due to several broken ribs and broken clavicle, another motorcyclist that had fallen asleep while riding his bike and wrecked. What a coincident I thought. With all the new hardware in place we headed for home.
Adjusting to the new hardware was relatively easy. I frequently changed the bandaging around the fixator to keep comfortable ad make sure it was healing properly. The healing process was going well. After a few days, the discomfort with my ribs subsided to where I could sleep on my right side. It is still difficult to sleep on the left side due to the pressure on the left clavicle and the plate that is in place there.
September 23, 2009
Today I went into see my personal physician. He was surprised to see my new hardware modifications. I told him the story and mentioned I needed to get off my current sleep medication and that I’d like to try something a little less intrusive a friend had told me about. This new medication called Clonazepam was supposed to calm down my brain activity allowing me to fall to sleep naturally. My doctor agreed to allow me to try if for a month and wrote me a prescription for the new medication. I began sleeping pretty well right away. After a few days, I was sleeping fine and waking up not feeling sleepy or half-drugged as I did on the previous medication. Hopefully this new medication will continue to allow me to sleep well with out the residual effects of the previous drug, if I happen to not get enough sleep the night before.
October 15, 1009
I went in to see the doctor at SCOI again today. Dr Shapiro was unavailable so I saw Dr Bowen instead. He was preparing to remove all the external fixator hardware, but all he had to work with was a pair of pliers. I thought I could have done the job more efficiently at home with my Dremmel kit, but in a few minutes the pliers did the job and all four posts and brackets were removed. I got to help a little and removed one of the pins by pulling it out with my fingers. The doctor removed the rest of the pins, five in all and applied several bandages to stop the bleeding from all nine separate punctures. The doctor gave me a wrist guard to wear and told me not to bend my wrist for the next couple of weeks. I wore it most of the time but took it off occasionally to exercise my hand and wrist a little. We scheduled therapy to begin Nov 2. I hoped Tracy Stoddard would still be there. She had worked with me on my left wrist when I broke it during another motorcycle accident two years ago.
November 2, 2009
Therapy commenced with Tracy as I hoped. She took some initial measurements of my current strength and range-of-motion and made some notes. Over the course of the next couple weeks she did a great job helping me increase my strength and range-of-motion.
November 12, 2009
Today I go back to see Dr Bowen for hopefully the last time. I have a report from Tracy on my initial measurements and current strength range-of-motion to give to him. Flexibility and strength are returning, but as with all things, it sill take some effort and some time to regain what I have lost.
Meanwhile, the motorcycle is still in Durango at the Harley Davidson shop waiting for a couple more specialized parts. I hope it will be completed soon after Thanksgiving so I can head back out there to retrieve it. I hope to do a little riding just to make sure everything is okay. There is a long list of parts that are being replaced. Thankfully the engine, transmission, frame, wheels and brakes are all in tact. A lot of superficial hardware was damaged even though when I looked it over months before, it did not look that bad. Evidently the HD shop in Durango found several things I had overlooked.
Another local riding buddy also named Tom has volunteered to ride back out to Durango with me to help trailer the bike back. I can’t wait to have it back.
November 24, 2009
I heard from the Harley Davidson Shop in Durango that my bike is finally ready to be picked up. Here’s the plan for retrieving it:
1. Another friend Wade volunteered his trailer. So I plan to pick it up Saturday.
2. Tom and I plan head out that afternoon
3. Stop in Williams the first night
4. Drive to Durango on Monday and stay the night there
5. Pick up the bike Tuesday from the shop and take it for a test ride.
6. Drive back to Williams that day
7. Return home Wednesday.
November 29, 2009 – December 1, 2009
We headed out as planned and made it to Durango with no problem. We picked up the bike Tuesday morning when the Durango Harley dealership opened up. We decided we wouldn’t use the trailer since the weather was so nice. Tom and I took turns riding it from Durango to Ridgecrest about 800+ miles.
We took a slight detour in Arizona and headed east off 89 onto 64 along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. This route was pretty cold and there was some snow and ice along the road in spots, but there were no problems navigating through any of it. The sun was beginning to go down when we got there and we got some great pictures from a few spots along the way. As we exited the park the sun was setting and we ended up driving in the dark for a little while getting into Williams. My electric jacket and gloves really came in handy on this part of the trip, but my dark visor didn’t help and I had to leave it up to be able to see. By the time we got back to the hotel my face was freezing.
December 2, 2009
The next day was warmer and the electric gear was not needed. We got back into Ridgecrest about sunset. The bike ran fine the entire trip. The exhaust is a bit louder than what was previously installed, but it sounds even more like a Harley in Tom’s words. I guess I’ll leave it that way.
Although my wife Shanna would like me to sell the bike, I’m not quite ready to give up. My passion for riding is still strong despite the accidents I’ve already had. The medication change and the lesson I learned the hard way to not ride tired should help prevent a similar accident in the future. Only time will tell. I’ll take it slow and easy to begin with and limit riding to back and forth to work and short trips on weekends. Maybe next year Rick and I can finish the ride we started without interruptions.
