OMG !!!!Man with a Gun!!!!

[DarcyInOregon]

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

[Duck on Wheels]

I think you did the right thing! Maybe that too is something cyclists are better at than the average motorist. Maybe you should call back to the cops and find out the outcome. If they've found the guy and found out what the situation was, that might help you get back in balance.

[spokewench]

That is really freaky - I would call the police to find out if they ever found the guy. Hopefully they did. If they didn't I would not feel too safe for a while???

[Geonz]

Welp, since when you went by, he went to the side of the road, it sounds like you did the right thing; who k nows waht he would have done if you had stopped? You certainly don't. Sounds like you done good.
I'd go see a movie to get some different images in my brain... this one's going to be there a while! Hoist one for me!

[Bikingmomof3]

What a frightening experience. You did the right thing.

[CyclChyk]

You know, I always wonder what I do would do in situations like this if it ever presented itself. I hope I handle it as well as you did.

I'm sorry your bike ride was foiled, but you did a really good thing. Maybe you saved a life that was reaching out and no one else saw it...... Of course if he had been on a killing rampage, maybe you should have opted for your bike ride and let him be............

Did I just say that outloud????

[SouthernBelle]

Stuff like that is why I carry a cell. Get a car charger!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Thank God you were in your car rather than on your bike when passing him!
This guy was either drunk, crazy, desperate or murderous...so your top priority would be to put distance between you and him, which you did.
Scary world we live in. I'm glad you are safe!

[DarcyInOregon]

Stuff like that is why I carry a cell. Get a car charger!

That is how new I am to cell phones, I didn't know about car chargers. Thanks for the tip. I will go to Radio Shack and get one. I wonder if the battery was ok and I just hadn't pushed the correct button to turn it on.

When I got home, the Sheriff's Dept had called my home phone, which I saw on the caller id, but they didn't leave a message. My husband had a massive stroke about 6 1/2 years ago, and he is brain impaired, so answering the phone is beyond his capabilities.

I hope the law enforcement people found this guy.

A few years ago I was walking my dogs on one of the rural gravel roads near my home. I was about a mile from the house and there was this huge mountain lion on the other side of the fence, down in the grass, coming towards us, but crouched and stalking, like how a house cat creeps up on a bird or mouse. It was the first cougar I've ever seen, so it took my brain a few seconds to process what I was seeing, then my brain did this a type of sort, trying to remember what I knew about mountain lions, and all I could come up with was shout and scream and don't look scared, so that is what I did, and waved my arms around and stomped my feet. The mountain lion stopped moving toward me, and when it stopped it was only about 5 feet away, within leaping distance, so I got me and the dogs out of there. I only had a combination of little and really old dogs then. My reaction to the incident was my dog population was inadequate for protection, so I got myself a big beautiful Anatolian/Great Pyrenees from the Anatolian Rescue Group, and I won't go for walks anymore without him. I've had him for a year and a half - super dog. Anatolians and Great Pyrenees are guardian dogs, bred to recognize predators and deal with them.

[Python]

What a frightening experience but you did the right thing. I'm glad you're OK. As for the mobile phone (cell phone) you'll get used to them. My father-in-law got his first one a couple of years ago - and he's 86. He wasn't keen on it to start with but takes it everywhere and uses it no problem now

[chickwhorips]

wow very scary! i'm glad your ok and you did do the right thing. there will always be another day to take that ride you missed out on.

as far as animal encounters go i know how scary those can be. glad you were ok from that one also.

[pooks]

You faced down a mountain lion from five feet away and thought you'd never have a freaky story to tell here? LOL Funny what we deal with and tuck away and forget about, that would astound others.

Please let us know if you find anything out. That is a horrifying thing to see, and I'm not at all surprised that you truncated your ride. Love your dogs, your husband, and pat yourself on the back for doing the smart thing.

[oxysback]

Holy cow, Darcy!! Was this on 99w? I'm trying to think of where you are and the surrounding rural roads. I didn't hear anything about this on the news, but then again we're not big news watchers anyway.

Glad you kept a cool head! I was so afraid you were going to say that you were on your bike and he pointed the gun at you!!

[DarcyInOregon]

Holy cow, Darcy!! Was this on 99w? I'm trying to think of where you are and the surrounding rural roads. I didn't hear anything about this on the news, but then again we're not big news watchers anyway.

Glad you kept a cool head! I was so afraid you were going to say that you were on your bike and he pointed the gun at you!!

Hi Ellen,

I come down off the mountain on Corral Creek Road. I turn left on Renne Road, and that takes me over to the Wilsonville Highway. The man with the gun was right after I turned right on the Wilsonville Hwy. There is a big dairy farm there. It is a few miles before the highway ends at Highway 219.

Stuff happens around here that never gets into the news. Like last year, my neighbor across the road who owns a small horse stable business, had to step in and rescue horses because somebody outside of Newberg did a suicide-murder, and killed his wife. They had horses and pets, and people were scrambling to try to find homes for the animals.

A few years ago, a few driveways down the road from me, a man stepped into his driveway and somehow committed suicide with his rifle.

None of what I mentioned made the news anywhere.

I learn more about what goes on from my neighbor the horse lady. I don't have horses, but I have trails on my land because I grow trees, and I let the horse stables use the trails for their horses. I haven't had a mountain biker ever approach me to use the trails, which I find odd, but oh well, their loss. I found out that horse people know everything that goes on, that they are privy to every piece of information about people you can imagine. The difference is bicyclists are focused on biking, whereas horse riders are ambling along chatting and gossiping, then when they are done with their rides they go visit other horse barns and chat and gossip some more with other horse people. Bicyclists are not that relaxed, because when we ride we have individuals goals we are trying to achieve, and traffic and other concerns.

On that mountain lion, contrary to what the experts say about the movements of cougars, the cat stayed in the area and eventually the land owner shot it. I used to have dozens of deer on my land, but they are gone, eaten by the cougars. I have bear on the property too because when I walk the trails I can see their huge piles of poop, like the size of a 250 pound dog. However the bears are benign, just there to eat blackberries and then they move on, though one got into the dog food at the backdoor a few months ago.

Darcy

[pooks]

I feel really dense. The piles of poop look like a 250 pound dog pooped them?

Or they are as huge as a 250 pound dog?