DATE: 09 Jul 2008, 12:36 pm / MOOD: Happy

And I’m Happy to still be alive to tell about it.

 

On July 3rd, I was riding through an intersection on my bike when some guy apparently thought the Chief and I would make a nice hood ornament on his 2008 Chevy Impala (or more appropriately Impale-A) and he drove right into the left front side of my Chief. There was no time to react other than to slam on the brakes and cringe.  The next thing I remember is slamming into the front of his car, getting launched over the hood, flipping through the air and crash landing about 25 feet away. I was not wearing my usual riding attire but dress boots with 2inch heels, polyester dress slacks and a red tank top. The only protective gear I had on were my fingerless gloves and helmet (which has no new scratches).

 

The woman behind me witnessed the entire scene and was certain that I did not make it. Well, let me tell you, I did make it and I’m here to tell you that it is a miracle I am alive. It’s not luck. It is an absolute freakin’ miracle.

 

I am 6 months shy of being 50 and I came away from this accident with a broken left pinkie toe, cut and bruised right hand from slamming into and breaking my rearview mirror upon liftoff.  I landed on my right butt cheek and I don’t yet know the extent of my lower back injuries, but I do know that I can walk ... albeit very slowly and painfully.   My road rash consists of a quarter-sized scratch on my right knee, a dime-sized scratch on my right elbow, a small patch of scratches on my right shoulder and a large area on my back that looks more like a slight rug burn.   As for the pain in my low back, the best way I can describe it is that I think I know what it feels like to be Tazered!!  

 

My low back aches constantly and I have what feels like pain worms that crawl up my spine and then electric shocks shoot out everywhere with that occasional BOLT that takes my breath away and brings tears to my eyes.  My sister said my angel must have been a “Michelen Man Angel”! lol.

 

The Chief fared much better than the front of the guy’s car. When my husband arrived at the scene of the accident, the Chief was standing there as proud as can be with parts of the car lying around him on the street; My Snake says:

Chevy: 0 Chief: 1

 

My Chief pushed back! And I believe God used that BIG bike to save me.  Although I may have to deal with back problems for years to come, I’m grateful to be alive and not paralyzed or missing any limbs.

 

If you don’t believe in God, I’m here to tell you there IS a GOD, He’s STILL doing miracles and He is AWESOME!!! 

CLICK HERE TO SEE DAMAGE TO CHEIF

 

 

As cautious as I am in intersections, I still got nailed.  The guy who hit me doesn’t understand how he missed me and said all he can think of is that he must have looked right past me.  That right there is the problem … cagers look right past us as if we aren’t there.  With all the lights on the front of my bike, I just don’t get it.  I don’t know what the answer is but, my brothers and sisters in the wind, do your best to be alert and aware of everything around you.  

 

God bless and may you be surrounded the Michelen angels!

.

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DATE: 03 Feb 2008, 8:01 pm / MOOD: Other

My mood is not in the drop-down list ... and that mood is

DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY!

 I want to say THANK YOU BIKERWORLDS!!! 

 Sixteen months ago, I met a super wonderful guy here and we became BW buds.  On January 25th, Snake and I TIED THE KNOT!!  Wooohooo!!  We have BW to thank for bringing us together.

 On top of that, my sweetie published his first book so my Snake is not only a new hubby but a PUBLISHED AUTHOR too!!!  I'm so very proud of him!  Check it out! 

It's the first in a series of three planned books and it's really good!  I am so impressed with how talented Snake is!  Not only can he compose songs (music & lyrics) but he can write too! 

The book is a very interesting story about nano-technology.  Well, let me tell you, that term right there scared me and I was afraid I wouldn't like (or understand) the book, but dang, was I surprised!  I couldn't put it down.  I read it in one day!!  It was awesome!!   It was gripping!

Since it's still not really riding weather and you need something to do, you could read Snake's book!    We sure would appreciate if you would post a review of Immortal Vengeance on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or whatever site you frequent. 

 

MsChief aka Mrs.Snake!

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DATE: 08 Oct 2006, 9:30 pm / MOOD: Other


RIP Mike "1BIGDogg" Gamble
9/23/57 - 10/3/06

You are forever in the wind now, my beloved crazy brother.
I will miss your late night phone calls, your gravely voice and your crazy stories that made me laugh till I cried.

I will miss your Instant Messages ... especially the one that said, "It's okay now, I'm here!"
I will miss your arrogance and your demands.

I'm so glad I made the trip in June to come see you and spend some time with you ... I keep thinking about you calling me and bitching me out for taking too long to get there!

I'll never forget the consequences of giving you too much Cal-Mag (hee hee), of washing your feet and helping you get dressed, of carrying your sorry butt to the hospital, and running out at 11:30PM to get you freakin' cigarettes!

I'll cherish the memory of you laughing at me when I rode your bike up and down - testing out the hydraulics! You were too weak to come out into the garage but you sat on the back steps and let me play on that beautiful Chief that I love so much.


And I figured out why you said I was going to love your headstone. You copied my avatar on the Indian forum and then you put it on your headstone too. I'm honored and touched. Just wish you would have told me and not made me wait till your funeral to see it.


Little did I know that less than four months later I'd be back in South Bend, but this time saying goodbye.

It's so hard to believe you're gone. I know you're in a better place now, but damn, I'm gonna miss you. You were such a character! IRIP will never be the same.

You're free my brother, free of pain and suffering, free to ride with the great Spirit on the streets of gold ... you and the Lord ... forever in the wind.


I love you and miss you...




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DATE: 03 Oct 2006, 6:07 pm / MOOD: Elated

My baby rode hubby's V* today!!! I'm SOOOOOO proud of him that I can't stand it!

I rode the bike to town and he followed me in his truck. We went to a parking lot of an abandoned building so he could practice riding the 1100 to see how he liked it and how he felt on it.

Practicing in the parking lot

It was the first time he's ridden a bike since his MSF course last year, except for riding his friend's Kawasaki Ninja 250R around the parking lot of his friend's apartment complex.

After about 20 minutes, he rode up to me and said, "Okay, I'm ready to ride."
Huh? Where?

Well, I agreed to let him ride the 20+ miles home.

... riding down the highway,

... riding down the back road towards home,

... riding up our driveway!

WOOOOHOOOO!!! I can't stand it ... I'm just so PROUD OF HIM!! My little baby ... ain't so little anymore.

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DATE: 17 Sep 2006, 10:31 am / MOOD: Relieved

Some New "Firsts" and a Couple of Close Calls

What an awesome day to ride yesterday. Weather was absolutely beautiful! Temperature was 80° with humidity in mid 50's, gorgeous blue skies with a few white puffy clouds. Simply wonderful! We headed out at 10:15am and rode 50 miles on the interstate with all the UT fans headed to Knoxville for the game against Florida. Met up with our SCRC group at the usual meeting place – a Citgo station. When we got there, one of the other lady riders checked out the Chief and said, "Damn, that sure is a BIG bike! Aren't you afraid of it?!" lol. I replied, "Only on twisty curves going up or down hill!"

We rode a short distance of maybe 20 miles to lunch. Lol. At lunch, our tail gunner got a call and had to leave. I was appointed tail gunner!!! WHO ME??? I've NEVER been a tail gunner before! What the heck am I supposed to do??? Well, all I can say is I'm glad everyone in front of me was a competent rider!!!

We left the restaurant and headed out on our ride. As I've mentioned in the past, I am not comfortable doing twisty type curves going uphill or down hill on the Chief, but I got pushed out of my comfort zone AGAIN! It's all good; we (the Chief and I) did fine and we all got to our cook-out in one piece. Enjoyed some good company and good food, but as I watched the sun setting down behind the ridge my butterflies started. I knew we had at least an hour and a half ride home and I've never ridden the Chief at night before except in the city for four miles. The ride home was on those uphill and downhill curve roads which included a few switchbacks. I can't see shit in the dark!

Well, we decided to head out at 6:30pm at which point it was pretty much dusk … great! Right when the deer venture out!! We didn't actually pull out till 7pm and it wasn't long before it was flat out dark. Although I had on a short sleeved t-shirt under a long-sleeved t-shirt with my leather vest, I started to get cold, quickly. We rode about 15 miles through those stinkin' winding roads to a gas station. I topped off and put my cotton-lined silk jacket on over everything I was already wearing and then my leather jacket. Changed out my fingerless gloves for full ones. Then it was time to head the 70 miles home. ~whimper, whimper~

Okay, so off we go into the darkness.. riding Hwy 52 which is not much of a "highway" for the most part! I hate it when people come towards me on those curves, because it blinds me and I can't see where the heck I'm going. And I can't stand it when those pick-up trucks ride my tail going around those stinkin' curves, because that adds to my stress level. The worst part about these roads is when you come up a hill and you can't see what's over the top only to discover it's a sharp turn. WHAAAA!!!!!! I was stressed out to the max, but at least I was warm! lol

Okay, so only two close calls.

One: We're sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change. There's just enough traffic where we can't go through the red light, so we wait …. Finally, a vehicle pulls up behind us and it triggers our light to change. Just as we are entering the intersection, some (excuse my adjective, please) ASSHOLE cop decides he doesn't want to stop for HIS red light, flips his lights on as we are all entering the intersection!!! I slammed on my brakes, stopping at MOST maybe ½ a bike length from his cruiser. He just slowed down and then kept going. No sirens. No lights until he entered the intersection.

Two: We are coming through a town and somehow I lost the road; just could not see where it went. Too much glare, lights, whatever, but all of a sudden the road curved and I almost lost it. Ended up in the opposite lane of traffic in a real low right lean trying to pull it back to where I was supposed to be. By the grace of GOD, I got back in my own lane. Hubby pulled over at the next lot and said "WTF was that?!" Thank GOD AGAIN … that there was no one in the opposite lane of traffic or the Chief and I would have been a hood ornament. The only thing I could figure was, with the combination of not being able to see at night (contacts weren't cutting it), everything being a blur, tension from riding the twisties and switchbacks in the dark with cars on my tail and cars coming at me, and then the near miss with the cop, I was pretty maxed out on the stress level meter.

We slowed things way down after that and the last 30 miles were uneventful. It did take us 2 hours to go 70-some-odd miles though! But come to think about it, that's really not bad timing considering the roads we were on.

I was flat wore out when I got home last night, but today, I'm toast. BUT!!! I DID IT! It may not have been a pretty ride, but I finally faced another fear and although I'm not all that thrilled with riding at night, I'm not as fearful as I was before. If it's on a straightaway, I'll be fine with that. It's gonna take some time (or a different bike – and that AIN'T gonna happen) getting comfortable on those twisties and switchbacks whether it's daylight or night time. The Chief and I have come a long way, but we still have a ways to go. I opt for more practice!

Hope ya'll had an awesome weekend!!!

P.S. I forgot to mention. When we got home and I put the Chief away, I got on my hands and knees and kissed the ground and thanked God we made it home in one piece.


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DATE: 10 Sep 2006, 6:56 pm / MOOD: Content

We rolled out of bed at 5:30am to 64° and LOTS of fog. By 6:30am we were headed out our road to meet up with friends for our Saturday ride. The fog was so thick, I could not see my husband's bike in front of me. Condensation accumulated on my gray tinted windshield and glasses. I could barely see where I was going.

The shades of gray combined with the chill in the air of the early morning stimulated my senses and I breathed the morning dew deep into my lungs. LIFE!!! A few minutes later, we met up with one friend who - bless his precious heart - had some spray stuff for my windshield (and glasses) to prevent the condensation. That stuff is incredible!

We rode on and picked up two more couples then headed on to breakfast. When we left the house, it was so humid that it didn't seem cold ... until we started riding. And wouldn't you know it, I forgot my jacket. I was wearing a leather vest with a long sleeved t-shirt and a cap-sleeve t-shirt underneath, but it was not quite warm enough. I started to shiver. I tried not to think about it and wished the sun would hurry up and warm things up a bit. I could see it starting to shine through the gray fog ... a white ball in the sky. I thought that once it started to burn off the fog, it would warm up, but in fact it seemed to get colder. GREAT!!

About 7:30am we arrived at the restaurant where we met up with several other riders. The coffee helped to warm my chilly little bones! Lol. By the time we left the restaurant, the fog was gone and it had warmed up a bit so that now riding was much more comfortable. We rode to an Antique Car Show and hung out there for about an hour, then decided to head up into Kentucky. The roads were awesome. Wide sweeping curves, hills, tight curves, acres and acres of nothing but farm land, simply beautiful. The sun was shining now and it was absolute heaven when suddenly, out of nowhere, splat … splat … splat. Little spits of rain were hitting my windshield. Hmmm… a few seconds later and those little spits of rain turned into a sun shower. Oh yippee… I just LOVE riding the Chief in the rain. NOT!!! The shower lasted only a few minutes and we continued on under the cascade of trees, safe and sound.

We entered into Kentucky and continued on to the Cumberland River where we all boarded a ferry on our bikes. Now this was really cool. It was a bit strange to sit on my bike and have the ferry drift sideways – it messed with my equilibrium a wee bit. We got to the other side of the river and I sat there looking at this steep hill ahead of me and the sharp curve at the top and thought to myself, "Ohhhhh boy, this is gonna be fun." I tried to let the bikes in front of me get as far ahead as possible so I could haul butt off that ferry and get a running start up this hill. See, as long, low and raked out as the Chief is, we don't do too well on sharp curves that are on inclines or declines. I'm tickled to say we executed the hill and curve flawlessly. Sometimes I amaze myself! LOL.

We stopped a few miles down the road and had lunch. Afterwards, we headed back home. We got home about 4 or 4:30. It was a nice little ride – only 178 miles but tons of fun with a GREAT group of folks. After a few hours of rest and a shower, we headed back out and met up with the same group of riders for dinner. Their group motto is "An Eating Club with a Riding Disorder." Hee hee. This could be trouble.

When we got home from dinner that evening, I looked up at the sky and saw a shooting star. Can't remember the last time I saw one of those. What a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Today, 9/10/06, we spent the day with my son on his little boat, cruising down the same river I rode across on a ferry yesterday! Lol.

I hope ya'll had as enjoyable a weekend as I did.

Some Pics from the Ride

OUR GROUP AT THE CAR SHOW


RIDIN' MY 'LIL DUDE'. (I really need to work on my posture! Now I know why my back aches after riding a while!!)


WAITING ON THE FERRY


RIDERS IN FRONT OF ME ON FERRY


RIDERS BEHIND ME ON FERRY


AT LUNCH


*The End*


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DATE: 07 Sep 2006, 8:47 pm / MOOD: Elated

Boxes keep arriving daily. It's like Christmas around here. Yesterday it was the new CBs for the bikes, today the headsets, hopefully tomorrow will be my new Kuryakyn Grand Tour Bag, and maybe Monday my new windshield bag.

Let's see ... all I need to find now is a security system, some rain gear and a nice (chrome, maybe) drink holder. I'm amazed at how difficult it is to find stuff to go on 1.25" bars.

Wooohooo... LET'S RIDE!!!



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DATE: 30 Aug 2006, 3:10 pm / MOOD: Other

What an incredible story. Humbling, too. Definitely worth reading.

The Family's Website

Anchorage Daily News

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DATE: 23 Aug 2006, 5:34 pm / MOOD: Relieved

I had to take my bike into the shop today for maintenance and the only way to get home was to ride bitch. I was NOT a happy camper.

Part of my apprehension was my insecurity about riding on the back of hubby's bike since he's only been riding for 3 weeks! However, his daily commute to work is 150 miles roundtrip, so he's accumulated a considerable number of miles in the last 3 weeks... so I have to add that I've been very impressed with his skills in that short period of time. But I still DID NOT WANT TO BE ON THE BACK OF A BIKE!!!

The second point of contention for me was ... this chick rides her own ... and I prefer it that way!!

Regardless of my issues, I had no choice but to ride bitch or walk the 55.7 miles home ... and THAT wasn't happening!

It's bad enough that I wasn't happy about the whole deal, but to make matters worse, as we walk out of the shop and I get on the back of my husband's bike ... my beloved mechanic along with the owner of the shop come out the front door and start singing in unison, "Victoria's riding bitch! Victoria's riding bitch!!"

Now that I'm home, safe and sound, I have to laugh at those two ... and THANK GOD they didn't have a camera!!! And hubby did great! I'm very proud of him. Especially since he had a reluctant "bitch" on the back of his bike!

I still prefer riding my BIG CHIEF!!!!



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DATE: 19 Aug 2006, 6:08 pm / MOOD: Tired

What a fantastic day! I rode with 18 or so biker sisters all day today. Left at 6:30am and rode to Murfreesboro where I used to live to meet up with part of the bunch at a Shoney's.

Due to the traffic on Hwy 41, we had a police escort out of Shoney's to the secondary road where we turned off. I felt like I was in a funeral procession.


We took a bunch of back roads through farmland to Rock Island State Park where we rode to the falls and the "beach". Here's a picture of part of the group at the park.


We left there a took a bunch more winding back roads to Center Hill Dam and rode across the dam. That was really cool except for some AH on a crotch rocket who decided to come screaming across the dam doing a wheelie. If he would've wiped out, he would've taken most of us with him. Dumbass. I wanted to beat the snot out of him.

We continued on to Edgard Evins State Park where we stopped and had lunch. As we pulled up, it thundered. Oh no! That's the last thing we needed. I thanked God for not letting it rain on us and we went into the restaurant to wait on the other half of our group. They got lost so we went ahead and ate! LOL. They got caught in the storm and hid out under a bridge till the torrential rain let up. We ended up with just a few sprinkles. Phew! Eventually, the whole group got together again.

We had a great time, decent food, lots of laughs and a nice ride home. Another awesome day of riding!! I got in 247 miles and got home about 4:30pm. The Chief is tucked in for the night and I'm ready for a shower and a movie!




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