The Accident

Hi everyone,

Well, today broke our track record of no accidents.  Thank goodness it was not on a bicycle on the road, but an accident nonetheless.  You remember yesterday I told you that the jack on the trailer broke and now we have to prop the trailer up with the car jack.  Well, when Mike and Dave were attaching the trailer to the RV, Dave's left index finger got pinched between the trailer tongue and the jack. (Sorry, kids, I did not describe it correctly before.)  He came into the RV to run some cold water over his finger and Paula and I took one look and said "That looks serious".  "It's not so bad", said Dave!!!  Nurse Paula and MIke said, "That needs stitches!"  Dave went online and found the nearest Urgent Care to be in Gulf Shores, 20 miles away AFTER we crossed on the ferry.  So we bandaged it the best we could and finished hooking up and drove to get in line for the 8 AM ferry.

In the meantime we visited with a wonderful French Canadian couple (late 50's, early 60's) who are traveling on our route but carrying everything on their bikes.  They "cheated" a little in AZ when it got so cold and took a train to Tucson and on to San Antonio, before resuming the bike route.  They came into the RV for the ride on the ferry to avoid the bugs.  Mariette spoke decent English but Irenee did not speak much English.  (Irenee should have an accent mark over the second "e" and is a man.)  We hope to meet up with them again.  

After disembarking the ferry we drove on to Gulf Shores and found the Urgent Care place very easily only 2 blocks off the highway.  (Thank you, God, for arranging for someone to invent Google Maps!)  The receptionist took Dave in ahead of several others in the waiting room.  Dr. Dillard was amazingly efficient, sympathetic, amazed at the adventure, and explicit about treatment.  Nine stitches and a splint later we were on our way.  Dave wanted to ride some today but Mike said "NO!".

We all decided that we would call this our day off, go to Pensacola, and see the Naval Air Museum.  Loved all the beach area along the way, and I hoped to spend some time with my feet in the white sand.  (Didn't happen.) 

The museum is wonderful and we enjoyed plane overload!  Saw an IMAX presentation of the Hubble Telescope.  Moved me to tears.  What an endeavor.  

Went to Bubba Seafood Restaurant for some crab, shrimp and fish--all deep fat fried and delicious!!  Then drove back to Fort Morgan to an RV park along the shore of Mobile Bay for the night.  Tomorrow will be an 80 mile day for us if we can get to Milton, FL.  We'll see how Dave does with the handlebar gripping deficiency!

This  mishap could have been much more serious and we are so thankful that it was not.  Tonight Dave says that the pain is only where the anesthetic was admininstered.  Oh yes, when the nurse asked him how he would rate the pain in his finger this morning, Dave said that it was a 2!  A 2!!!!!!!  I know he has a high pain threshold, but a 2????  

We watched the sunset tonight over the bay from the dock.  I took a picture of a blue heron on the end of the dock waiting for some tidbits to be thrown his way by a fisherman cleaning his catch of the day there.  It was pretty dark, but I enhanced the picture a little.  I sent it to Katy for the website.  Hope that it is good enough to see.

Love and blessings,

Lana