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The Bracelet...Pt. 7 by Philly
Ok, so not long after I get off my Colorado trip, Bowling Green, KY has their annual AHDRA blowout at Beech Bend Park. I really like their setup out there. If you've never been there, it's this huge, beautiful park and all the camping is in the trees alongside this river that wanders around the outskirts of the park. People with those great, big, long RV's have to park out in the open but there's so much room out there - everybody's happy no matter what your speed of fun is. The drag strip is an old-timey looking thing with covered grandstands and both sides are easily accessible to one another. Vendors are all right there if your do-rag blows off and at night the bandstand is rocking with national acts now (they started that last year). But everybody's cooking something up in their camps and there's Homer Simpson's everywhere but they all camp down at one particular spot- I emphasize that there's excellent camping everywhere where you can get away from everybody if you want some peace and quiet and there's two nice shower houses strategically placed.
Everything you want to see or do can be done by riding your bike either right up to it or through it - like the vendors. But all this fun takes place the first weekend in October. I like to alternate years in going to that with the Helena, ARK blues festival down there on the Mississippi River where it (the blues) all came from. It's the only free festival of it's kind left and, Brother, there's some good music down there and lot's and lot's of good bar-b-qued everything. Been going to that since '81 and have seen it grow too. It's right there on the levee so there's not a bad seat in the breeze…
Anyway, back to the most amazing part of this story…I'm clipping along in the slow lane doing 70 mph on I40 going east towards Nashville on my way to Bowling Green. I was in traffic and things weren't feeling all that right. Just been through one of those orange barrel mazes where the construction crew put a zig-zag in the highway and a lot of brake lights were going off everywhere. Things started picking up after I got through that but I was still in traffic and the highway was rising as we were getting into the hilly part of Tennessee. I was checking on traffic in my left mirror and when I looked back ahead of me there it was - a string of breaking lights coming on fast about 20' in front of me!!!
We had topped this hill and everybody on the other side were slamming on their brakes!!! So here we go - it was like an accordion effect. People were getting on and off their brakes skidding trying not to hit the person in front of them but giving the person behind them as much room as they could so they wouldn't run into the back of them (at least that's what I was doing cause I knew what I had behind me - trucks. A little one and an 18-wheeler behind that one and all kinds of cars and trucks in the fast lane).
I was riding the hell out of that motorcycle, skidding and flopping from side-to-side like a fish out of water but I never thought for one minute (as hairy as it was!!) that anything bad was going to happen - I KNEW everything was going to be alright!! I know it sounds bizarre but I was actually having a good time riding the skids out (I was going in a straight line) and judging when to let up off the brakes and when to apply them again and holding the bike at the right angle to skid and the whole deal.
What's more important, though, is I had a definite sense of something, some kind of being, on my shoulders!! I couldn't see it but something was there and there's no question about what it was. I knew I was feeling safe throughout the whole ordeal because of it. Anyway, my last skid marks turned out to be (I later found out) 182' long. Part of that was rubber and the rest was metal to asphalt. I remember something grabbing my rear tire, then I went off top right.
This is what I remember about it. I used to be on the judo team in college and one of the drills we used to have was run up this ramp that was about 5 feet off the ground and fall in such a way that you form a curve with your arm so that when you fall the curve absorbs the shock a little better and the rest of your body can respond in the same manner and you end up rolling like a ball until you come to a rest. Well, at 70 mph this technique was altered somewhat but the principal remained the same. What happened in my case was I bounced two or three good times, but the force of the speed sucked my arms out over my head as I was barrel-rolling down the highway. It was then that I had a brief passing thought that somebody might run over me now but that thought was quickly overpowered (this is no shit now) by whatever that was that I knew was protecting me!!
I felt asphalt, I heard nothing, I felt gravel (I knew I was in the emergency lane now and, hopefully, I was almost home-free), I felt grass and then I dropped into something and stopped. (Whew!! Got through that one!!) I was face down and even though I knew everything was alright - I laid there a brief moment to wiggle my neck and kind of check myself before springing up. I slowly did a pushup getting up and began noticing where I was. I was down in a ditch that was backed by a solid rock wall going straight up!! Damnit!!
I was shaking my head, while walking up out of that ditch dusting myself off (still had my helmet and shades on!!) and looking on down the highway where I saw my bike about 100' in the emergency lane (bless his heart!!). I couldn't believe what I had just been through, man!! I was laughing about being lucky enough to live through the whole thing and my bike looked like it was going to be ok and I just wanted to get out of there quick before all the spectators went wild.
I was still dusting myself off when I noticed this Robert De Niro looking thing walking towards me with his mouth dropped wide open!! I also noticed an old Bronco with a blue light flashing in the dash that he must have gotten out of. He was the first one who got to me and I felt like I had to say something to him to let him know he wasn't seeing things so I said, "yea - I'm Bad!!" He still didn't say anything and about that time this State Trooper pulls up. I couldn't help but wonder how they got there so fast but I wanted to go get my bike righted up so I said, "come on!!" motioning for him to run down their and help me get my bike up.
I started picking up retread off the highway thinking it was parts off my bike but I quickly threw it down for fear he might think I was wacked out or something (imagine that!!). He said, "naaaaawww - I think you better come back over here. That's when all these people out of nowhere started running up to me yelling at me and everybody else. It was crazy and already out of control. I noticed both sides of the interstate traffic was stopped and I wasn't leaving there anytime soon.
Then the paramedics showed up and it was amazing to me how fast they all got there because there wasn't any exits nearby in either direction. That always baffled me. People were all excited and telling me how I had just skidded under an overpass (damn - most people HIT the overpasses!!), how these 18-wheelers were going around me to keep from running me over and although it was a jamming mess - I was the only one who went down in it all. I couldn't take it anymore.
I was surrounded by all these people who were telling me they were doctors, they were nurses and I was trying to be polite by telling them my name and shaking their hands assuring them by shouting out, "I"M OK!!! I'M OK!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER BUT I'M ALRIGHT!!!" It was like a victory!! I felt like I had just won the "Woman of the World" award or something!! Chyna and Xena and whoever else all the blacks in Memphis think I look like couldn't have never taken this fall, Dude!!
Anyway, it was getting pretty chaotic out there and people were all around me. I got fed up and covered my ears with my hands and just looked straight down at my feet. Guess what I saw, Muthuh!!??? You're not going to believe it!!! It was my bracelet, man!!!
All the stones were gone and the silver was completely flattened!!! Now think about it - what are the chances of that happening? Not that it was ruined but that it was right between my feet after the distance that I rolled!! I bent down and picked it up with disbelief - it WAS my bracelet!! The engraving along the sides were the only thing noticeable about it and the only thing I could think of was what the Zuni's and the Ute's had told me!! They were so right!! They were so right!! They said that something would happen to it but that I would be able to send it back for repair. They said it was going to save my life and it did. Muthuh, is that not the coolest story you've ever heard!!!
But wait - I'm not through yet. I've got more to this but I need to vacuum my house now. It gets even better so stay tuned…
Philly
 For Information, contact: Muthuh@Muthuh.com
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