Moonshine and Mishaps

My husband and I like to ride. We now have a dual sport bike that is really fun to ride. My husband grew up riding and I grew up riding with my dad. So, when we have time, we jump on the bike and take off. Mostly day trips, but have taken a couple of longer trips. Although, the second one we took pretty much got rained out.

Last summer we decided again to take a day trip. We rode our way through back roads and ended up in Gatlinburg. We don't really get up there too often. There's usually more people there than we like to be around. It was a nice day out, so we chose to park the bike in the garage and mosey a bit. Our first stop was Doc Collier's. I like that store. We go in and wander around a bit. We hadn't been there in quite some time. Well before the fires. Apparently, they had some smoke damage and had some items like clothes on clearance.

Then the guy behind the counter announced they were ready to start a tasting. Of course we had to join in. There were some we liked and some we didn't. We decided we should get a couple of bottles to take home with us.

Once we were done with the tasting, we continued to browse around. I found a shot glass that I liked. I also found a couple of the clearance tee shirts that I liked. After that we were ready to check out. The lady at the register rang everything up and packed everything in a bag. As we head to the door, my husband, ever the gentleman, opens the door for me. Good thing as I had my head in the bag looking at my purchases and really wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. So, my husband opens the door and....

I fall out the door! Straight down. There is a small little step down that I didn't see as I had my head stuck in the bag. I twisted my left ankle and landed hard on my right knee (This knee already has occasional problems due to a fall I had about 10 years ago). Shit! That HURT!

The first thing I do is check the bag to make sure my shot glass and drinks didn't get broken! My husband, of course, is trying to see if I am okay. I tell him I think I am okay. Nothing broken that I can tell. As I sit there rubbing my ankle, the guy standing outside the store next door smoking looks over and says "I see that all the time"! Awesome, I had an audience! At least I'm not the only graceful person.

Up I get so I can walk it off. I am hobbling and limping up the sidewalk. Holding a moonshine bag. I'm sure some folks thought I had a little too much! At that point, I wished I had so I wouldn't be hurting so much.

We had planned on stopping in a restaurant and getting some dinner. With that in mind, we continued up the sidewalk to the restaurant of choice. I had to stop and sit on a bench. I pulled the leg of my pants up to look at my knee. It was already getting a huge bruise on it. My ankle wasn't any better. My husband went down the street a little bit to see just how far I would have to limp to get to the restaurant, which of course was at the opposite end of town from where we parked. It was a lot farther than I was willing to go. Home is where I wanted to go.

Back to the parking garage, with a pit stop at the convenience store for some cold water and Advil. I took a few. I was hurting a lot by then. Finally the parking garage.

And a motorcycle. Oh lord, how am I going to get on!?!? Both legs are hurt! So after a bit of thought, I lean myself onto the bike and ease myself up. I lean back and swing my right leg over the handle bars. Then I reach back and grab the handles at the back seat and pull myself onto the back of the bike. Then my husband could get on. Off we go.

Putting my feet on the pegs just made everything hurt more. I was ready to tell my  husband to pull over, go home, get the truck and come back for me. Which he would have never done. There would be no way he would just leave me on the side of the road somewhere.

Since we had chosen River Road to head out of town, I asked him to stop on a pull off where I could get to the water. He found an acceptable spot and pulled in. Getting off the bike was just as fun as getting on!

He helped me hobble down to the water. I took my boot and sock off and stuck my foot in. AHHHHH! The cold water felt awesome. I left it in the water until it was numb. I got my sock and boot back on and limped up to the bike. Using the same technique as the first time, we got back on and rode home.

Being as I am just a little bit accident prone, I already have an array of braces. So, I iced my ankle and knee and braced them up.

I had to work the next day. That means a lot of being on my feet and a LOT of walking. And stairs. The garden center I work at is about two acres and multiple levels. I'm a trooper though and went in. We do have carts, so I figured I would just ride as much as I could.

Oh, my! The ribbing I got! To this day, every time I damage myself in any way, the first question I get is "Was there moonshine?".

So what about you? Any moonshine mishaps?