Oh no! I'm so sorry about Dodie's accident! This is terrible news. My most sincere sympathies and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Actually at this point our water was indeed all gone. But we knew we were almost there. Dehydration can hit quickly, though.

Helmets are pretty nice to have when needed! A little over a year ago, I did an endo on the bike path doing maybe 12 mph, and ended up with nothing more than shoulder, arm, knee abrasions... and a bruise on my head. The helmet did its job! Hard to do a good shoulder roll in that case, but better than broken wrists, etc.

Good you guys use helmets!

That cracked helmet really moves me too. I was in a terrible car accident with my small children in 1987 and we were miraculously unhurt but seeing a drawing on the dashboard that my 5-year-old had made for his grandma covered in broken glass, well, that image is burned into me forever. We had a serious incident here at our house this summer, with Bruce falling off of a ladder and breaking his ribs and spine. It could have been so much worse, and he is nearly healed now, but trauma is trauma and you have to respect the impact it makes on us, both the injured and the non-injured. Take good care of Dodie, Steve. And take good care of yourself and let others do so also.

The other heartbreaking thing in these statistics is the trip distance. It looks like. You were only about a kilometer from the planned end. What were the weather conditions like toward the end, as in how hot and humid was it? I wonder if heat exhaustion or dehydration might have been a factor here.

Relieved to hear things are sorting out.

I had a similar accident in 2016 in France, here is a quote from my journal: "But as I was going downhill all I could remember thinking was "the bike is a bit wobbly and I think I will just slow down a bit", I gently braked, then nothing. I saw blue lights and was on a gurney, then thought, oh now what happened and why am I in this ambulance?" It just happened and I have no recollection. So Dodie, I do feel for you!!! Safe trip home!!!

That's actually a lot of good news, mixed in with the rough stuff. Glad you were able to get Dodie out of the hospital. Had a similar situation in France where my sister was hospitalized when a brain tumor was diagnosed. It was a terrible experience and we almost dispaired of getting her out of the hospital and back to the US. Anyway, good that Dodie is in good hands (yours) and I hope you can get the transportation back home organized without too much hassel.

"With that Dodie walked out on her own steam.".....music to my ears. I'm kind of glad you are going to be there a few more days because you probably need to decompress a bit. What an ordeal with the payment, etc.! Whew!

I'm so sorry your trip has gone awry but I have the feeling you will recover to ride another day. Good luck.

This makes me so sad for you both. But it is great to hear what excellent care Dodie had the whole way through. And such wonderful, generous people came to help you every way they could!

I wish for you, Dodie, to recover quickly and fully. My heart goes out to you. I'm so sorry this happened.

Dodie sounds like she has all of her marbles if she can figure out the number of pills needed vs. what she got. I barely can manage that sort of thing even in normal times.

I had to go to a hospital in Danang, Vietnam for a minor surgery on my hand that had some sort of infection/boil thing on it. We had to go to a nearby pharmacy for dressing materials which were only sold in Costco-sized quantities. I think we still have some of that around. It was quite an experience, but of course nothing on the scale of a broken arm and a head injury. Dodie, you are badass.

https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/tomorrow1616/dang-you-danang/

I’m so sorry! How scary for you Steve and painful for you Dodie.

I have to say it. In the US right now you (Steve) would not have been allowed inside the hospital because of Covid and acute overcrowding. Dodie might have sat in the waiting room for hours or days, alone. This is such a terrible event yet there have been some deeply lucky things about it.

Great news that you’ve found a ride to Cancun, and that Dotie could walk out on her own. This all sounds like as good a report as we could hope to hear, except the hassle and pesos.

I'm going to like this photo because the kindness of strangers is something that always brings me nearly to tears. It's been said that there is no god as merciful as a man who flips a beetle off of his back. In the middle of catastrophe, there they are, the helpers.