Old ghosts best left forgotten, hundreds of sporbikes, and brains on the pavement...
This is why my nighttime excursions were dubbed "adventures of the damned".
I ride to Cannery Row in Monterey to hang out with some biker friends, since it's the week of MotoGP at Laguna Seca. I park my bike alongside hundreds of other sportbikes on Cannery Row.
Someone offers me a margarita, and I casually walk around a bit. I call a couple of people on the phone while I make my way through the large crowd. Everything seems normal, but I'm here essentially alone. That means that at any moment life can turn into a scene from a "Badger" comic book.
I bump into a couple of individuals who know me and really don't like me. I have a right to hate them, but they aren't into discussing semantics, so we face off. They call a few extra friends, and I'm up against 8 guys. Someone reminds them about the "ninja" issue, and I see hands grasping for items within their jackets. I consider showing them what "hell" is really like, but I remember that I promised a certain someone that I'd be careful and not get into any trouble. I quickly get the attention of a couple of Monterey cops on foot patrol amongst the masses of people. They intervene and begin rearranging my "friends" thinking.
I sidestep my "pals", and head to Bubba Gump's to make a call and have some dinner. After dinner, I get suited up and head to Mortis while I continue an earlier phone discussion(If you read this, the future plans sound wonderful).
The ride back was not something I was looking forward to. It was cold, and riding highway 1 to 17 to 280 alone at 2am is dangerous. As I merged onto 17, I saw a car on the opposite side of the freeway, lose control, spin out, hit a power line at approx. 80mph, then flip 5 times and land upside down.
I kicked Mortis into high gear and blasted down 17 til I could doubleback and get to the wreck. There were a bunch of civilians watching the two people in the front of the car pull themselves out. I jumped of my bike and ran up to the accident. I told the two injured teens to sit down and avoid moving(both had cuts on their faces and heads). The passenger in the rear of the vehicle was lying halfway out of the rear drivers side window. His face was smashed in, and his brains were all over the pavement. He had also been disemboweled, with part of his intestines hanging from his stomach.
There was no pulse, and I told everyone to stay back. EMS was enroute, and I didn't want anyone moving the body. I contacted the driver, who was drunk and crying. He had worn his seatbelt, but his friend in the rear apparently had not. I kept the people who had witnessed the accident together, notified CHP of whom they should talk to(they assumed I was a cop), and helped them identify the driver and passenger who were still alive. Then I rode the rest of the way home.
Tonight was damned for sure, but it was more of an ordeal than an adventure.
Actually, that sums up my entire year(as those of you who have heard the details know). Oh yes, one more addition to the year's "fun". I got to be a pallbearer at the Catholic funeral for my grandmother last week.
I apologize if I darken the mood, but I wanted to keep you up to date.
Wouldn't it be nice if something positive were to happen? I think so.
As they say, no rest for the wicked....
~R
I ride to Cannery Row in Monterey to hang out with some biker friends, since it's the week of MotoGP at Laguna Seca. I park my bike alongside hundreds of other sportbikes on Cannery Row.
Someone offers me a margarita, and I casually walk around a bit. I call a couple of people on the phone while I make my way through the large crowd. Everything seems normal, but I'm here essentially alone. That means that at any moment life can turn into a scene from a "Badger" comic book.
I bump into a couple of individuals who know me and really don't like me. I have a right to hate them, but they aren't into discussing semantics, so we face off. They call a few extra friends, and I'm up against 8 guys. Someone reminds them about the "ninja" issue, and I see hands grasping for items within their jackets. I consider showing them what "hell" is really like, but I remember that I promised a certain someone that I'd be careful and not get into any trouble. I quickly get the attention of a couple of Monterey cops on foot patrol amongst the masses of people. They intervene and begin rearranging my "friends" thinking.
I sidestep my "pals", and head to Bubba Gump's to make a call and have some dinner. After dinner, I get suited up and head to Mortis while I continue an earlier phone discussion(If you read this, the future plans sound wonderful).
The ride back was not something I was looking forward to. It was cold, and riding highway 1 to 17 to 280 alone at 2am is dangerous. As I merged onto 17, I saw a car on the opposite side of the freeway, lose control, spin out, hit a power line at approx. 80mph, then flip 5 times and land upside down.
I kicked Mortis into high gear and blasted down 17 til I could doubleback and get to the wreck. There were a bunch of civilians watching the two people in the front of the car pull themselves out. I jumped of my bike and ran up to the accident. I told the two injured teens to sit down and avoid moving(both had cuts on their faces and heads). The passenger in the rear of the vehicle was lying halfway out of the rear drivers side window. His face was smashed in, and his brains were all over the pavement. He had also been disemboweled, with part of his intestines hanging from his stomach.
There was no pulse, and I told everyone to stay back. EMS was enroute, and I didn't want anyone moving the body. I contacted the driver, who was drunk and crying. He had worn his seatbelt, but his friend in the rear apparently had not. I kept the people who had witnessed the accident together, notified CHP of whom they should talk to(they assumed I was a cop), and helped them identify the driver and passenger who were still alive. Then I rode the rest of the way home.
Tonight was damned for sure, but it was more of an ordeal than an adventure.
Actually, that sums up my entire year(as those of you who have heard the details know). Oh yes, one more addition to the year's "fun". I got to be a pallbearer at the Catholic funeral for my grandmother last week.
I apologize if I darken the mood, but I wanted to keep you up to date.
Wouldn't it be nice if something positive were to happen? I think so.
As they say, no rest for the wicked....
~R