A story I wasn't allowed to tell...until now...

Do you stalkers remember the ill-fated motorcycle trip to Deal's Gap from like a month & a half ago?  

If you don't - you can read about it here. 

There have been SO many after shocks from this trip I can't even begin to tell you.  Even though the accident didn't happen to B-rad, he was affected nonetheless.  The repercussions of this trip have changed our lives forever.  Bum, bum, buuuummmmmm....  Seriously...forever.... 

 (This is a really long post... put the kids to bed...you don't want to be distracted... it's good...)

A large group of guys from the motorcycle gang headed down to Deal's Gap back in June to ride the twisty & windy roads.  Ya know - to drag knee, drive fast, eat bologna sandwiches, fart & burp.  Disgusting boy stuff. 

I told you vaguely about the accident, me going with his wife to get him, blah, blah, blah.  Well, if you've been observant stalkers - you may have noticed in recent posts where Brian & Shauna went to the lake with us, etc - Brian was wearing a neck collar & had his hand in a cast.  Yea, he's the guy that was hurt...  

So let me break this down for you.  When I did that blog post Brian was in the hospital waiting to have surgery.  They really didn't want information about him on facebook, etc because his parents are facebook stalkers.  I'm sure you can ALL imagine how upsetting it would be to see information (& bits & pieces at that) about their son on facebook when even his WIFE didn't have all the information yet.  We were going down interstate 70 to Tennessee with our hair on fire...in the middle of the night & there was really NO GOOD WAY to communicate with the guys on the trip.  It was lovely.  So, to respect their privacy - I didn't even tell ya'll details.   

When we got the call, all we knew was the Brian crashed & had been taken by ambulance to the hospital with a broken hand.  Ok, not too bad, right?  My job on the road trip was to patrol facebook to see if anyone had posted pics and/or tagged Brian in them.  
And I came across this pic... & even though I knew he was fine...it took my breath away...

 A guy they were with posted it on facebook...and it started a MAJOR shit storm.  He wasn't 'tagged' in it so the probability of his parents seeing it was low.  BUT if someone else had shared it & they were friends with his parents...uhm, you can see where I'm going with this...

So...people DO NOT survive crashes like this.  His bike was broken in HALF.  Look at the tires...they are facing the opposite direction.  I could tell you all the other things that happened to it, but I don't understand them so that would be pointless.  I told you in my last post that my opinions of bikes may surprise you.... I do NOT like them.  

You are out in the open for God & everybody.  No metal walls around you.  Nothing.  Not only that, but people in cars do NOT pay attention.  Everyone thinks they own the road & that's a big reason why motorcyclists get hit.  They aren't seen as easily as a big ole car.

 NOW, on the flipside of that - I am not so naive that I don't know that some riders are irresponsible.  They ride wheelies on the highway, they ride between lanes of traffic or on the shoulder.  Foolish?  Yes.  Saying because they do that they 'deserve' what they get when they are hit or killed?  No.  

As a car driver I speed sometimes.  I whip around people sometimes in traffic.  Doesn't almost everyone?  No one is perfect. It still doesn't mean I 'deserve' to have bad things happen to me.  

When a woman wears provocative clothing & gets raped, did she 'deserve' it?  Of course not.  Certainly she didn't help the situation by dressing that way...but she doesn't deserve to be violated.

Wow...I'll get off my soap box now....

Ok, so B-rad is an adult.  I'm not his mommy & I can't tell him what he can or can't spend his time doing (within reason...). He enjoys speed, he enjoys the friendships & he works hard everyday.  It's not like he goes out every night & drinks himself into oblivion or does drugs.  So, I'm not one to be miss bossy pants on telling him what he can or cannot do.  However, I don't have to like it...

This crash was especially difficult to understand because by all accounts, Brian did nothing wrong.  They were not going at a high rate of speed (around 55-60mph).  Don't be mistaken - they drive fast a LOT. That's what these bikes DO.  But during this instance they were not.  According to the guys, they were coming out of a corner & the bike practically fell out from under him.  The official term they all say is, 'the tires let go'.  

B-rad & his friends ALWAYS wear gear head to toe.  And even Brian will tell you it saved his life.  B-rad was directly behind him when it happened & it still haunts him.  He watched is buddy slide across the pavement. The bike hit the guard rail & broke in half.  Then one half come back & hit Brian which threw him back into the street.  B-rad had to swerve & brake just to avoid running him over.  

B-rad was convinced he just watched his friend die.

UHM...that's heavy...

After Brian was thrown back into the street, B-rad watched in his rear view mirror as he miraculously stood up & ran out of the street to not be run over by the other bikes that were coming up.  B-rad says that he said out loud, "Thank God - he's alive!"  It's a story I've heard 8,732 times now & it does NOT get any easier to hear. (But, we are able to joke & laugh about it a bit more now...)

(Disclaimer:  ALL the photos I'm showing are on facebook now.  I totally stole them from Brian's page...)

When he hit the ground his glove had like these metal protectors on them.  They were pushed back into his hand which broke 2 of his fingers.  He had a ligament sticking out as well.  When B-rad said to call the ambulance, Brian was NOT happy about that.  B-rad explained to him that his hand was pretty messed up & he needed it looked at. 

He spent about 5 hours in surgery to repair his hand.  

He's healing well now, and in a couple of weeks they will remove those pins.  Yikes!  It's extremely painful (duh) so he will get knocked out for that.

He's lucky chicks dig scars...

So, are you wondering about the neck brace?  Why in the world does he need that when his hand is broken?  Well, people - let me tell ya THAT story...

***15 minute intermission***  

Walk away from the screen, go to the potty, get a diet coke...

B-rad drove him 3 hours north that night in the passenger seat of his truck.  Shauna & I drove him home another 3 hours in the back seat of her Honda.  He slept most the time because he was hopped up on meds. Shauna is a nurse & when they took him back to the emergency room at Jewish she asked them to do some additional tests on him.  And guess what an MRI showed?  
He.had.broken.his.neck.

UH, yea.  It was a bad, bad deal.  The hospital down south never even checked him for anything but his hand.  His only pain complaint was his hand so that's all they treated him for.  I haven't been to med school or anything, but I would think if a dude went sliding across the road & then was hit back into it with something that weighs thousands of pounds, I'd check for a few more things.  Call me crazy.

We went to their house & got on their nerves to visit a lot when he came home.  Brian couldn't do anything but sit or lay.  How boring is that?  

He hasn't been able to work so he's home all day, everyday.  He couldn't drive himself anywhere so he was stuck.  Oh, the humanity...

The story is almost over, I promise.  Brian is doing MUCH better now.  Like I said, the pins come out soon.   Then he'll probably have to do physical therapy.  His neck is healing & he can lay on his tummy now when he sleeps!  Score!  He still has to wear the neck brace most the day which means he still can't go to work.  (I think that part sounds like Heaven...)

In closing... (YAY!  Congrats - you made it to the end...)  B-rad has decided to hang up his helmet.  No more motorcycles for him.  Sure, he may get on someones & take a spin but he has sold ALL of his motorcycle stuff.  Thinking he watched one of his best friends die really takes a toll on your head.  Not only that, but what if that happened to B-rad during planting or harvesting?  The farm would be screwed.  There's a reason it's called McAfee BrotherS farm.  Sure, there's an element of danger to anything you do.  Hell, my dad was hit by a truck walking across the street.  But getting on a motorcycle of any kind takes that danger level up by 75% & getting on the kind B-rad drove knocks it up by 110%.

HOWEVER.... have ya'll met my hubby?  I mean- did you think he was just gonna ride off into the sunset & grow old with no hobby...nothing to spend money on?  Oh, tsk...tsk...tsk...  Back in the day, B-rad used to drag race his old Mustang.  Basically you go down a short, straight track as fast as you can.  And since he has a need for speed...

Now, we have THIS!!!!!!!!

It's ANOTHER Mustang!  YAY, we have 2 now!!!!  (insert sarcasm here) A matched set!

This was Butterflies drag racing car.  Since he's all about training & boring stuff like that - he hasn't messed with it in years.  B-rad bought it & now Butterfly & him are working to get it put back together so they can drag race.  

  I have to laugh so I don't cry...Seriously...