No Broken Bones!
By: Luis Hurtado » On: 06.02.2008
[ Luis on his Motorcycle a day before the accident ]
“No broken bones!” Is the phrase I keep repeating to myself as I pop up from the asphalt as if I’m rooting for “No Wammys!” on that 80s game show, rotating limbs to check for anything broken or hurt.
It may sound cliche, but it definitely holds true, “it all happened so fast.” I was merging around a group of cars when the lead car merges into my lane and hits their brakes.
I’m giving it throttle when I realize I’m not going to be able to get myself out of this situation. I buckle down and grab a fistful of brake, preparing to screech to a panic stop.
Not a moment goes by and I find myself sliding on the pavement at 40 mph. My first thought is, “How the hell did I get here?”
I see my motorcycle bouncing, writhing in pain right in front of me and I’m cursing myself for having dropped my bike. “Damn it! I dropped the bike!” Is all I think to myself while sliding along, as if this happens ALL the time.
That’s when I realized there was an SUV behind me. I look behind me and there’s a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee hurdling towards me. Luckily it’s already slowing down.
As I’m checking for any broken bones, a group of people rush towards me all asking if I’m alright. “I’m O.K! No broken bones!” Is all I can muster at the moment.
“We thought you were surely dead! We weren’t expecting to find anyone inside the helmet when we came running up!” WOW! That’s when I started to panic, I was in such a state of shock I started to think perhaps it had been more serious than I originally made it out to be.
A few of the guys grab my motorcycle and wheel it to the side of the road. I look at my clothes as I’m walking to the sidewalk and realize it looks like I’ve gone through a shredder. My shirt, Chuck’s, and jeans are in complete tatters.
I felt the need to create some normalcy to the situation so I started introducing myself to everyone, “Hi how are you? My name is Luis, what’s your name?” People looked at me like I had had a concussion, but I was trying to keep myself sane by focusing on something other than the fact that I had just almost killed myself.
Everyone really pulled together and looked out for me, completely random people too. I wasn’t even a half a block down the street from where I live. I had just pulled out of my driveway.
This great couple who will remain nameless as I feel they may want to be seen as good samaritans and nothing more, definitely took me under their wing. They insisted on taking me to an urgent care center, taking many hours out of their Saturday afternoon to make sure I was given the A-OK.
In fact, while I was being checked out, the doctor at the urgent care center asked if I wanted him to talk to my family members outside. I just rolled with it and said, “yes, that would be great.” The doctor was surprised to find out they were random people who picked me up on the side of the street.
On the way back from the urgent care center, the woman in the couple asked to have me touch the ‘ten-ner’ she had so she could put it down on 10 california lottery quickpiks.
I’ll have road rash for the next 6-9 months, but hey, I don’t want to die without any scars.
[ WARNING ] Graphic Images on Next Page
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