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Old November 1st 18, 04:44 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joy Beeson
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Posts: 1,638
Default Bicycle Accident


I used to frighten the cows when I walked around on Maui, because they
had never seen a pedestrian before. But they just walked away from
the fence; they weren't spooked.

I did play a dirty trick on a herd of cows once.

I'd ridden to Claypool, just to prove that I could. I didn't like the
bar-like atmosphere of the only eating place in town, but thought I'd
go in, order a sandwich to go, and eat it in the graveyard. But first
I'd ride up to the state road to see whether anyone catered to the
passing traffic.

I learned later that downtown Claypool is quite convenient to the
tracks, and railroad people are the only ones who want to eat in
Claypool when they are just passing through.

No businesses at the junction, but the paved shoulder was nice and
wide; why not go home by 15 and stop somewhere to eat the emergency
food bars in my pannier?

When I reached the spot that was just out of sight from the junction,
I realized that that wasn't a shoulder, it was a blending lane for
trucks coming out of the diesel-oil plant on the other side of the
bridge. Much, much later I was fooling around with Google Maps and
learned that it would have been much better to turn south and take the
first road past the bridge.

15 is not a nice road anywhere for anybody. I took the first county
road I crossed and started looking around for a place to eat. Just
after I passed a pasture, I came to a place where somebody had been in
the habit of pulling a heavy vehicle into a wheat field and backing
out again. Ah, here I can get off the road without squashing any
crops!

I sat down to eat and the cattle started drifting toward the fence. I
started to feel a little self-conscious when they were all lined up
along the fence watching me eat. Not until a few minutes later, when
they started to moo exactly the way Al meows at nine o'clock, did I
understand who had been parking in the wheat field and what had been
in the truck.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
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