Great little ditty! I’ve had other issues with bathrooms in addition to the one where Scott had to release me by carving a hole in the door. Now, I always let him know I’m going off to a restroom and to come looking for me if I’m not back in 10 minutes!
This isn’t exactly pertinent to the original post but I thought I should warn everyone about outhouses. They can be used to steal your bike or equipment if you are alone.
While in Sarasota Florida I was walking by myself and needed to use a peculiarly located outhouse in a parking lot. Upon exiting I found that the door would not open. I was trapped until someone came along and opened it from the outside. Upon examining the latch mechanism I noticed that it had been bent in such a way as to cause it to in effect be locked from the outside. If I had been in my car, probably unlocked for my brief stop, or if I had been on my bike, things could have gone missing while I was trapped inside. There was a small outdoor restaurant on the other side of the lot which was probably used as a lookout to let someone know that the trap had been set. Since I had nothing on the outside the young man that came to my “rescue” was probably there to get the trap set up for someone else by letting me out.
So if an outhouse door is not completely closed prior to your entering it, close it and make sure it will open without needing to bend the mechanism to get in.
What’s unique to us as individuals is an interesting question… Of course everything that I experience is unique to me because it happens to me. When I was trying to think of something I realized that pretty much all of the unusual and interesting events I’ve experienced have occurred to many of the people reading this post.
I did think of something, but I had to eliminate it because it wasn’t on a tour - it occurred on a 100-mile out-and-back overnighter in preparation for my 2020 trip. It was on this ride that I sewed up my own ankle in a treehouse. Something like that seems unlikely to have happened to anyone else, but you never know. Regardless, like I said, it doesn’t count because it was an overnighter.
The only other thing I can think of was meeting and riding with an Amish couple on their honeymoon during my 2021 trip. It was particularly unusual because they had more tech than I did. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. :-)
Mark that self suturing in a treehouse deserves a first aid medal. It reminds me of a scene in that movie ‘No Country for Old Men’. I have trouble to apply a band aid to a small wound. Suturing, even with anaesthetic, I doubt I could ever do. I’d give supergluing a try though.
I definitely anesthetized it first. I'm not that much of a sadomasochist! :-)
Mark my Thorn Nomad riding friend seems to have experienced yet another unusual, perhaps unique, experience on his current long ride.
A couple of days ago my happily married friend Ian was invited to share a double bed by a trainee Timorese catholic priest! As there were no hotels or alternative accommodation, Ian wisely headed for the nearest police station and asked the cops for a safe refuge to sleep in.
He was slightly disappointed not to be given a gaol cell, but nevertheless pleased to have a lockable office for the night.
How can I have lived 76 years and have missed out on this classic? And thanks for reminding me of the fun that was had when we lost Rachael’s pannier and our passports in Andalucia twenty years ago. Thankfully that really was a unique experience for us - not like losing my glasses or wallet, which seems to be getting almost routine.
1 year ago