E-Day - June 7, 2009

Some days just don't work out! And this was one of them. The day after D-Day. The President had been in France on Saturday June 6 to remember the fallen and join the veterans of the landings in 1944. Maybe D-Day was a triumph for some - it was of course a terrible day for many. And for sure, a day when not all plans worked out.

So Sunday June 7 will be E-Day for Jim and Sandy and I. The day when (almost) everything went wrong.

The plan was for Jim and I to go by bus to Big Basin and run 12 miles on the Skyline to the Sea Trail and arrive at Waddel Beach on the Pacific Highway. Meanwhile, Sandy, John and Sally would drive to the beach and ride their bikes up the trail to meet us. Then we'd all go for breakfast.

Well, the first bit worked. However I took a heavy fall on the trail and landed on my nose. Worse, I cut my hand and subsequently needed 5 stitches to fix it. The fingers are also rather badly sprained on both hands. However I'll live. I'm fine.

Sandy unfortunately had a much harder time. She was pushing her bicycle down a hill when she stepped awkwardly on a rock on the trail and stood on her ankle. Not so much Ouchhhh. It was sort of AAARRGGGGGgggggffffffFFFFFFF sob sob sob. 15 minutes later, still in great pain she managed a 20 yard walk to get out of the sun. Ummmm I don't think you're going to be able to walk the 5 miles down the trail to the car - and there's no other way out!

So Jim took the bike to find the ranger and get help from the emergency services. While he has away, 4 ladies came along the trail on horseback. "No Problem", they said, "Patch is a search and rescue horse - he'll carry you out." So we helped Sandy onto the back of Patch (short for Apache) and Jan lead everybody to safety. We met the peace officers and paramedics at their vehicles and everybody was very relieved that a more painful and exhausting rescue was not required. It seems to me that once more the women saved the day - however the efforts of the emergency services are greatly appreciated.

We are all in the debt of Jan and Patch for the rescue. Carol - another rescue angel - sent the photos which record this adventure. And we appreciate the other 2 ladies and 3 horses who gave great help and support. Thank you so much to each and every one of you.

Sandy has broken a bone in her foot. And her ankle is very sprained. So she's in a lot of pain and will be using crutches for 8 weeks. I expect she'll need some physio and rehab support. Get Well Soon, Sandy. You're not going to be doing much walking during our vacation to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks this summer.

There's a final tale of madness here. I returned on the bus to San Jose and arrived home at 10:40pm to discover my keys were still in Jim's backpack. As Ali's in England visiting the family, I couldn't get into our condo. So I stayed the night in a motel and Dennis picked me up and took me to work on Monday morning. I keep spare keys in the office. By the time I arrived home about 6:30pm on Monday evening, I was exhausted and sore from nose to hand (and lots of other places). However after a good night's sleep, you can see that I was fine on Tuesday.

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