Day Twenty by Dave Schultheis
Saturday, August 16, 2003 - somewhere in Washington State
I was awake around 6:00 a.m., dressed and out of the tent around 6:30 a.m.
Dp was up and was playing some Hawai'ian music on the sound system. It seems like some coffee was brewed and some beers were consumed.
Some breakfast was prepared and served; I had toast, eggs and potatoes, and juice. It was good!
Many conversations ensued, many beers and sodas were consumed, and much fun was had.
Lunchtime rolled around, and chili and cheese & crackers were made available.
Through the afternoon, there were a number of new arrivals; Hoppy, Papaboop & Mamaboop, Derek & Sam, Randy & Sandra, Curly and Jake, Becky & Toni Froehling, and Dirty Harry all rolled in at various times.
Again, conversations abounded and adult beverages were consumed, as would be expected of net scum IRL event. [IRL is in real life].
At one point I undertook a minor adjustment to the bike, involving the right handlebar switch set and throttle cable. At one point, I heard a "tink" and could not find the ferrule for the throttle cable. After an exhaustive search of the concrete and grass, we gave up. Agua was kind enough to provide an extra ferrule, and Phil B. provided technical expertise to get everything put back together properly.
Again, this isn't part of the ride report, but I later made a donation to Eddie's fund in honor of Allen coming forward with the part that was needed. That really saved the day. Phil's advice: if you ever come across an extra ferrule, hold onto it.
Later in the afternoon, I lay down on the grass for a nap (even _if_ you see photographic evidence of my napping with Dutch, I will deny it), then went to my tent for a little more rest.
When I got up a little while later, I discovered to my horror that I had completely missed dinner. I was angry at myself for failing to ask a couple of people to come get me at dinner time. I can't even report what was served, and I'm sure it was wonderful, because the preparation and serving folks were excellent.
The band started up and was really rockin' the place. Since everybody was having a good time except me, I thought it was a good time to take a long walk and try to adjust my attitude. It _was_ a long walk, and I got back just in time for the band to take a break. I sat in a chair grousing, and Dave Nichols offered me the use of his rental car. I thought about it for a while, then took him up on his kind offer.
I drove a few miles to the (relatively) local Bar & Grill. The waittress was not a happy camper as it was near their closing time, but brought me a nice salad and prime rib dinner and I enjoyed it. I tried to make a Sprint PCS call, but I was outside the service area.
On the way back from the restaurant, I stopped to remove a big piece of wood from the middle of the road. At that moment, a car came zooming by on a side street at a very high rate of speed. I didn't think much of it until a few minutes later, after I had gone that same direction, when I saw a cloud of dust, some skid marks, a STOP sign and mailbox that had been knocked over, and a car kind of sideways on a stump, with a guy inside.
One of the locals had overimbibed, ran off the road and crashed his car, out here in the middle of nowhere. The phone wasn't working, so I drove back to the camping area, dialed 9-1-1, told the dispatcher what and where, then returned to the scene and flashed my four-way signals until the (volunteer) fire department arrived.
The young volunteers talked to the driver, made sure that nobody had been thrown from the car, and tried to keep him stable until additional personnel arrived. However, the drunk insisted on getting out of the car and walking around, in spite of their pleas that he not subject himself to further injury.
More fire volunteers arrived, then an ambulance, then law enforcement. I provided a statement of what I had observed and stayed at the scene until about 11:30 p.m., then returned to the party. I thanked Dave Nichols for the use of his car, went to my tent and to bed around midnight.
Miles for the day = 0. Miles for the trip = still 6364.
Tomorrow: back on the road, an early-morning repair, and a nasty dog-bite.