Close Encounter of the Fourth Kind (or: It Wasn’t an Endo…)
Monday, May 12th, 2003“Why is he wearing that bill hat?” you might ask. Or even “why is he wearing that bill hat pulled down to his ears?” The short answer is that I had a close encounter on my bike ride today on the DORBA trail at Rowlett Creek Preserve. If you recall the movie, you will remember that:
a close encounter of the first kind is: spotting an alien
a close encounter of the second kind is: finding evidence of an alien landing
a close encounter of the third kind (the movie title) is: contacting an alien
I’m adding another category:
a close encounter of the fourth kind: when an alien contacts you.
In this case, the alien was a low hanging vine, replete with big thorns. As I cruised loop 5 of the aforementioned course today, at about 10 mph, concentrating on reciting the Bible verses I’ve been committing to memory, suddenly I was literally yanked to a halt by an intense and painful force across my forehead, below the protective shield of the helmet I was wearing. However, I want to make it clear: I DID NOT ENDO! Somehow, I hadn’t ducked sufficiently to avoid this low hanging vine that spanned the trail. Soon my face was covered with blood. Fortunately, I had remembered to bring my pocket hankie with me, and I used it to wipe the blood from my forehead. After many wipes, and with no signs of cessation, I simply formed a bandana from the hankie and tied it around my head under my helmet to catch the flowing blood cells. Then, in an act of revenge, I retrieved a pair of dikes from my bicycle case, and proceeded to teach that vine a lesson. It won’t be there the next time I come to this spot in the road!
In a sign of my committment to my ride on such a beautiful day, I decided to continue going the remaining distance on the 8 mile loop–I was at roughly the 2-mile mark at the time. Sure enough the blood stopped flowing, and I was able to finish the course with no other (major) incidents. (There are always many many MINOR incidents on my bike rides.) After returning to my car, I looked in the mirror and found some rather substantial scratches across my forehead, and a huge clot of blood on my right ear–a spot I hadn’t noticed when I used the hankie.
So if you see me with my hat pulled down over my ears: please don’t bother to ask me what happened. Now you know the rest of the story…..Good day!