October
...The month started out with a
change of weather. We woke up to snow on the 3rd.
It didn't stick but the high temp dropped by 40 degrees from 80 on
the 1st
to 40 on the 3rd.
We went to the movie, Trouble With The Curve with Clint Eastwood.
It was a good movie. Dixie won a drawing for some free Mary Kay so
she had a facial on the 3rd.
Dixie took Doug for his Prostate biopsy on the 4th
as Fran was at the farm working. The results came back negative a
week later – good news for now at least. Dixie realized her
drivers license was due in January so she got that taken care of.
Tyler and Shay stayed with us from the 4th-7th
while their parent went to an EMT conference in Helena. While they
were here we went to a “Americans” hockey game. IT was a lot of
fun and there was even a couple of fights. We also went to the Lewis
and Clark Interpretive Center and did a some shopping. We finally
completed our crawl space project – the vapor barrier is all down
once again. We completed another project we have been putting off –
updating our wills. Dixie went to the What Women Want Expo on the
13th.
We have made several trips to the motorhome, packing items and
refueling. The weather turned cold on the 20th
so we plugged it in so we can run the heat this next week before we
leave. We are doing last minute things...Mike renewing his 'Carry
License', Dixie getting a haircut, Christmas shopping, etc.
On
the 19th
we picked Doug up at Front Range as he flew his plane in to hanger it
for the winter. We went to lunch and then he headed to the farm on
his motorcycle. He wanted to take it out there to load it in the 5th
wheel for our trip. Unfortunately, he had a bad accident about 50
miles into the trip. A deer jumped out of the ditch about 4 miles
this side of Loma. He hit the deer going around 70 mph, split the
deer in half and the bike went to the left and he went in the air!
When landing (believed to have been on his right side where his
arm/elbow hit his ribs – this was determined by the pain) he
skidding down the pavement approx 300-400 feet and then rolled a few
times where he scraped his left side – luckily the leathers took
most of it. It just so happened that he had just met Steve and Annie
Humphreys (unknown to either them or Doug). Steve saw the accident
in his rear-view mirror. They turned around to help and found out it
was Doug – what are the odds??? Another car heading towards GTF
had called 911. A pickup that Doug had just passed also saw the
accident. Between these two vehicles and Steve's they were able stop
traffic. The EMT checked him out and Doug was feeling ok at the
time so he declined the ambulance. Steve and Denita happened to be
in Havre on their way to Great Falls, so Doug, Steve & Annie
waited at the scene until they arrived with a trailer to haul the
'totaled' bike. He arrived in Great Falls with deer blood and parts
on him and his leathers. He also had a nasty looking scrape on the
crown of his head and some missing hair. Once he cleaned up Denita
and I took him to the ER as he was having a hard time breathing and
his groin area hurt a lot (figured he took a handlebar to the groin).
Three hours and 3 CT scans later they determined that he had 2
fractured ribs....totally amazing that was the only real injury. He
definitely had a guardian angel (Mom I think) riding with him that
day! The head injury was just an abrasion that looked much better
the next day. He is healing well now but was very sore for the first
few days! The bike & the deer didn't fair as well as Doug.
The
next day on the 20th
we all went to The Sting to celebrate the miracle the Lord gave Doug
and also an early Birthday (Oct 25th).
Denita, Steve, Tyler and Shay left on Sunday. Doug and Fran stayed
until Wed. and then headed home to pack up the 5th
wheel. We had planned to all leave on the 26th
and attend the Griz game on the 27th
in Missoula. Those plans were changed due to the accident and the
fact that it snowed on the 22nd
and continues to do so off and on. The weather is below freezing (in
the teens this week). We will try and head out on Sunday the 28th
if the weather permits!
