the hospital

I rode hard and fast. It was pure adrenaline. I made it to the hospital in 30 or 40 minutes. Distance is a lot different on a loaded bicycle.

When I got to the hospital I was shown the room where Miriam was waiting. Linda was in the bowels of the hospital some where. They were still determining her injuries.

The hospital staff told us there was a campground not far from the back of this rather rural hospital. I sent Deanna and her friend Jeff to see if we could camp at the campground, (we could and did). They took good care of us there.

The hospital, we were told, serviced three towns, and was set in the country between the three.

Linda’s injuries appeared to include a broken arm, but it turned out not to be broken, but badly bruised. There was enough damage to make it hard to figure out. Her panniers (packs) and tow clips had kept her feet and legs relatively protected, and though skinned, there was no real damage there.


There was more, and it was not good. She had dropped off the edge of the pavement, trying to make as much room as possible for the cars, and had then slammed into the pavement, hard.

She was wearing a helmet, but even with the helmet, she had a fractured skull and a blood clot on both sides of her brain.

The next day, Miriam stayed with Linda, the rest of the group went to visit a local attraction, and I took the bus back to Eugene to pick up the borrowed van and trailer.

Later, two car loads of families and friends arrived, as had been arranged. We consulted with the doctor and decided that Linda and Miriam could ride in one of the vans and Arline would drive the other, while the rest of us continued the trip.

Some time later Linda told me that she had been riding all morning with her helmet on her head, but without fastening the chin strap. Just before we went down that last section, she had reached up and buckled her helmet. I quake when I think of that one. I still have the helmet with the crushed foam padding.

But it was not over yet.