June 29 2009

Over the 4th of July my uncle decided to take a trip with some buddies

from his ward. No he doesn't have a Harley. I have never EVER seen him ride a bike in my life. We were concerned and tried hard to make him change his mind. But he insisted he would be fine. So the famous statement was "I have been riding bikes since before you were born." With a statement like that what could I say. He was going. Of course the same day he brought the bike over for his wife to see and while getting back on he burn a 3 inch burn on the inside of his knee. If that wasn't a sign then I don't know what to tell you. Anyway I am dragging this on but I am sure you can guess what comes next. Yes, yes he did. He was going through (or just getting to) the Black Canyon National park outside of Montrose Colorado. Could you guess anything different? Of course he wrecked! Or as his wife would say "Been there Ric'd that." Now there are differing stories but we will go with his because he is the one that suffered most. He was going through a corner and hit a rock and lost control. The bike started tail fishing on him and layed it down. As you can see in the picture the bike is fine. The seat was scratched, the saddle bags, the roll bars and the horn was bent, but not much more than that. I tease him and tell him he got scared and jumped. So the barrowed bike is ok and will survive. Ric on the other hand took some heavy bumps and lumps. His left left leg was a compsite fracture. Yes the bone was coming out.

He was lucky though cause it only strecthed his ligaments, vessels, and muscle. The break was clean with no other breaks or fractures so it fit together like a glove that was meant to be. :)
He has 6 broken ribs and a punctured lung and some abrasions. They put a plate in to attach the two bones.

He was really lucky. The best part of the situation was he was ambulanced to Delta Colorado. The nurse in the ER was concerned for him and said she new a Bishop in town that could come give him a blessing. Well when this Bishop got there he found out it was his brother in law. Yes I said brother in law. My aunt and uncle had just moved there in January and maybe just for this reason. Not only but definately to be there to help Ric. We spent a week waiting for him to recover so he could be transported home. Other than bumps he made it with no additional problems.