The following is an edited repost of a June 19 post ending our east coast tour.
Partly cloudy with intermittent rain and thunder storms 85 degrees
The projected temperature was to be quite warm today and we were planning on riding 70 miles so an early morning departure was improtant. We waited until 6:00 A.M. when the morning light was visible in the east. Leaving the motel we saw a very narrow sliver of moon with a planet to the upper right the sight looked like the Musulim crescent moon symbol. As I do every morning when leaving early I turned on the dynamo headlamp and tail light. Lesa also attached our blinking lazer light to her helmet. We were only about 15 miles south of the town of Brunswick and hoped on making it through town before the 8:00 rush hour traffic. Hitting the road traffic was heavy as commuters headed for the Georgia docks. However when we passed the docks traffic was much lighter.
We were riding north on Highway 17 a four lane highway with two lanes each to the direction of travel. The Georgia Department of Transportation gave us a good three foot shoulder but installed rupple strip from the fog line to the edge of the road. Riding on the rupple strip was very uncomfortable so we rode the four inches between the white fogline and the edge of the rupple strip. We kept our eyes on the rear view mirror and if a vehicle was approaching us in the slow lane we would waive them over.
Than it appeared. A dark blue sudan traveling about a foot off the white fog line. We waived and waived but the vehicle did not move over. We talked about the car and soon realized it would not move over so we moved further onto the shoulder. If the vehicle continued on its path it should miss our bike. All of a sudden the car took a sharp turn into the bike. BAAM we were hit. Legs remembers the sound of the accident, being flung into the air, landing on his hip and sliding along the pavement to a stop. He tried to stand but was only able to crawl off the road.
Feets did not recall the accident but when the dust settled she was sitting behind the bike. Reconstructing events it appears the rear pannier holding the sleeping bags was dislodged from the back of the bike and came up under her back leg. The mirror hit her in the back and she landed on the back of her head shattering the light and her helmet. She likely rolled to her stop behind the bike.
The lady stopped and asked if we had called 911 yet. The answer, no. About this time Lesa stood up and started taking photos of the accident scene, of the car involved and to document road and riding conditions. Smart girl! Legs just layed on a pannier and swatted mosquitos.
Several good senaritans stopped and soon the police and after about 15 minutes the ambalance. A short interview by the ambalance crew revealed Feets had forgetting events. They loaded Legs on to the stretcher and Feets hopped into the ambulance. The police officer touched Feets on the arm and she became aware of the situation stating she did not remember the accident. Instantly the amblance crew put a brace on her neck and turned her from pasenger to patient.
Legs was released at 8:00 A.M. and Feets was kept overnight for observation. Because of Covid-19 concerns Feets could not have visitors once moved to ICU at 8:00 P.M. that evening.
It After discussions from the ER Doctor and several x-rays it became very apparent that even though Legs could not walk Feets’ injuries were potentially much worse.
Legs and Feets 