|
Date with fate - post 15 - Asleep at the motorcycle wheel; zapped by lightning
This entry was posted on 1/23/2008 10:10 PM and is filed under Motorcycles, Fate Fairies.
Here is more reflection again on that time in 1980 when I commuted from Whitewater and my school bus job to Lake Geneva and my bouncer job. It was a short time in my life, yet intense for some reason. It was clear I would not be allowed to find a much better job situation dealing with Southern Wisconsin's economy. I had been out of the Army a couple years. I was anxious to improve my lot in life some how and move on. Yet I was stuck in the rut that was 1980 in recession riddled Southern Wisconsin. I would soon be married and fleeing the state.
As I have mentioned before my mainstay vehicle was a 1975 Kawasaki 500 motorcycle. I was on the road between the two towns and jobs ad nauseam. Often, I would swing by my parent's farm to visit. I had a series of back farm roads I would use as short cuts over to Lake Geneva and back to Whitewater as the crow flies. Two commuting episodes seem to be bound at the hip. I would get so tired. The bar clean up ended at 3:30 a.m. The school bus route started at 6:00 a.m.
One night in the fall, I remember the moonlit night, or morning actually. The whine of the two-stroke engine vibrated through my leather jacket as I raced down a farm road. Then there was nothing. There was a bump. I woke up near the edge of a shoulderless stretch of road. The engine noise returned to my consciousness. The ditch vanished in the darkness down the rolling slops of South East Wisconsin. I was still on the edge of the road and upright. I had fallen asleep on a motor cycle, but did not crash.
Another night and eerily on the same stretch of township road an electrical storm blew in. It was spectacular. Lightning bolts crashed all around me - front, side, back, up in the clouds. But soon the driving rain accompanied the lightning show. I pulled the big cycle over because visibility went down to nothing on the dark farm road in the driving rain. The lightning bolts only gave momentary sight reprieve. I crouched beside a metal guard rail down a slopping ditch opposite the driving rain and under the canopy of some roadside trees. I was thinking there must be a better way to make a few bucks - there was a crash, I felt a jolt, a second later there was a flash of light, another second later there was a deafening thunder crash. A telephone pole a few yards away rained down sparks. I was at a loss for a second. I remember shaking my head like I had been slapped. I had apparently received the peripheral tale end hit of a lightning strike.
I remember my Dad being thoroughly disgusted with the story when I told it later. "Why the hell don't you quit those stupid bullshit jobs and work inside somewhere, Bub?" His word was always final, what could I say, I had often wondered the same thing myself.
Stupid pop culture, media-complex, distraction-from-reality story
I am thinking, each day I should jot down the stupidest news story that is foist upon us by the big-media-complex as a distraction from the reality that has become America. So here we go - welcome to today's "Stupid Pop Culture, Media-complex, Distraction-from-reality Story."
Hey everybody, CNNs Lou Dobbs' head is about to explode complaining about the American state of affairs. That UFO in Texas weren't no UFO according to the military. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been given an invite to Iraq to mend the old sour grapes the two countries had when Saddam was "sheriff." Oh, to hell with that depressing shit. Now here is the real damn story. Ringo Starr tells Regis to bugger off. The problem with Ringo being on the Regis show is that I thought both Ringo and Regis were dead long ago. Now there is some real God damned news!
Wisconsin military service person of the week
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Army Specialist Charles A. Kaufman, 20. Specialist Kaufman was killed when a car bomb detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, June 26, 2005. Charles was in Company C, 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment, Wisconsin Army National Guard. His unit was from Arcadia, Wisconsin. Kaufman was from Fairchild, Wisconsin. Fairchild is about 30 miles southeast of Eau Claire and has a population of 511. Charles Kaufman was a Humvee driver with the National Guard. His Charlie Company was stationed in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Kaufman's cousin, Kelly was also in Charlie Company, and the two went through Osseo-Fairchild High School together and graduated in 2003. They had joined the same National Guard unit. Charles Kaufman was the 41st Wisconsin service member to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
3,931 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
475 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
28,938 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,855 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
85 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
6 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
125 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
14 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; and, icasualties.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
