DarcyInOregon
10-17-2006, 01:31 PM
Never in a million years did I think I would have a freaky story to contribute to this forum. Well I sure was wrong.
I live in rural Oregon. I have to put my bike on the car carrier to go someplace to bike. I can't bike out my door like everyone else.
I hadn't gotten a ride in for three whole days because of the rain and the responsibilities. Today I had a 25 mile ride planned. I was all prepared. My TE friend Suzie had talked me into getting my very first cell phone of my life, but when I checked the phone before putting it into the sports bag the battery was dead. I plugged the phone into the charger and took off in my car without it.
And of course I needed a cell phone desparately. How would I know?
I got to the bottom of the mountain and I had just turned onto the rural highway. There was a man standing by the side of the road, just off the road. This is a dangerous rural highway with no shoulders, and in the entire 30 years I've lived here I've never seen a pedestrian on the highway. I look, and in his right hand is not a cell phone, but a GUN! As I get closer to him he steps onto the highway, brings his right hand up, and points the gun at his head. I was freaking!
As I pass him in the car he starts walking down the highway. I have all of these thoughts going through my head. Like, did he just murder a house full of farmers. Or, is he going to commit suicide. Or, is he going to start shooting at motorists. And then I think, gotta get to a phone. And then I think, what about my bike ride, I need my bike ride, what is this going to do to my bike ride.
I pull into a farm house that has cars sitting in the drive, but no one is home. I go out onto the highway and flag down a delivery truck, who pulls over a bit further down the highway and I have to walk to his truck and I am dressed in my bike getup, the kind of togs only bicyclists understand and everybody else thinks we are nuts; I was wearing black tights with brightly colored Smartwool socks up over the bottom of the tights, biking shoes, jersey, and Gore-Tex rain coat. Get this, the man is delivering ice, which I suppose ice has to be delivered somehow but who has ever noticed a delivery truck for ice before? He has a cell phone. I explain the problem and he calls 911. Meanwhile motorists are passing and swiveling their heads looking at me because I am dressed oddly. The police take the call and I did my duty.
Meanwhile I am second guessing myself. Should I have followed the man and risked getting shot? Then found a phone.
I got back in the car and went for my ride, but 20 minutes into it I realized I was so upset I couldn't focus and I was going to have a careless type of accident. Then I started to think that what if the man with the gun made it to my house, which was four miles from where I saw him, but who knows. I have an invalid husband, 5 doggies and 5 kitties, and I just started obsessing that the lunatic was headed for my house and was going to murder my spouse and pets. So I turned around and headed back to the car. My bike ride was a pathetic 6.4 miles.
I am still freaked out. The sight of that man holding a gun to his head, like he had just murdered a bunch of people and was getting the courage to do himself in, that was unbelievable.
Oh yeah, in my opinion, bicyclists are more observant than other motorists when driving a car. It is because we have to be so attuned to our environment when we are biking, it is a characteristic that is also part of our driving behaviors. I wonder if I saw the man with the gun because I am a cyclist, and other motorists don't look and don't care.
There is an entrance to a rock quarry about a half mile from where the man was, and I think that is where he was headed. It is just my gut feeling.
Darcy
I live in rural Oregon. I have to put my bike on the car carrier to go someplace to bike. I can't bike out my door like everyone else.
I hadn't gotten a ride in for three whole days because of the rain and the responsibilities. Today I had a 25 mile ride planned. I was all prepared. My TE friend Suzie had talked me into getting my very first cell phone of my life, but when I checked the phone before putting it into the sports bag the battery was dead. I plugged the phone into the charger and took off in my car without it.
And of course I needed a cell phone desparately. How would I know?
I got to the bottom of the mountain and I had just turned onto the rural highway. There was a man standing by the side of the road, just off the road. This is a dangerous rural highway with no shoulders, and in the entire 30 years I've lived here I've never seen a pedestrian on the highway. I look, and in his right hand is not a cell phone, but a GUN! As I get closer to him he steps onto the highway, brings his right hand up, and points the gun at his head. I was freaking!
As I pass him in the car he starts walking down the highway. I have all of these thoughts going through my head. Like, did he just murder a house full of farmers. Or, is he going to commit suicide. Or, is he going to start shooting at motorists. And then I think, gotta get to a phone. And then I think, what about my bike ride, I need my bike ride, what is this going to do to my bike ride.
I pull into a farm house that has cars sitting in the drive, but no one is home. I go out onto the highway and flag down a delivery truck, who pulls over a bit further down the highway and I have to walk to his truck and I am dressed in my bike getup, the kind of togs only bicyclists understand and everybody else thinks we are nuts; I was wearing black tights with brightly colored Smartwool socks up over the bottom of the tights, biking shoes, jersey, and Gore-Tex rain coat. Get this, the man is delivering ice, which I suppose ice has to be delivered somehow but who has ever noticed a delivery truck for ice before? He has a cell phone. I explain the problem and he calls 911. Meanwhile motorists are passing and swiveling their heads looking at me because I am dressed oddly. The police take the call and I did my duty.
Meanwhile I am second guessing myself. Should I have followed the man and risked getting shot? Then found a phone.
I got back in the car and went for my ride, but 20 minutes into it I realized I was so upset I couldn't focus and I was going to have a careless type of accident. Then I started to think that what if the man with the gun made it to my house, which was four miles from where I saw him, but who knows. I have an invalid husband, 5 doggies and 5 kitties, and I just started obsessing that the lunatic was headed for my house and was going to murder my spouse and pets. So I turned around and headed back to the car. My bike ride was a pathetic 6.4 miles.
I am still freaked out. The sight of that man holding a gun to his head, like he had just murdered a bunch of people and was getting the courage to do himself in, that was unbelievable.
Oh yeah, in my opinion, bicyclists are more observant than other motorists when driving a car. It is because we have to be so attuned to our environment when we are biking, it is a characteristic that is also part of our driving behaviors. I wonder if I saw the man with the gun because I am a cyclist, and other motorists don't look and don't care.
There is an entrance to a rock quarry about a half mile from where the man was, and I think that is where he was headed. It is just my gut feeling.
Darcy