June 19, 2024
Dog-driven disaster of a day
St. Ignatius to Quinn’s Hot Spring via Ronan; dog bite, crash, ambulance,
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Well, we covered a lot of ground today but most of it wasn’t on bikes.
The day started out great. The skies were clear and there was no rain in the forecast; afternoon highs were predicted to be 70. We walked back to OldTimers for breakfast and got some lunch to go as well. Then we packed up the truck and took off; Jim driving today. Amber, Rich and I rode across the highway to make a stop at the St. Ignatius Mission on our way out of town.
The Mission was quite beautiful, full of nicely done religious frescos and the docent was quite taken with our cycling feats. None of us is particularly religious so this was a short diversion from the 40 miles we planned to ride today and all of us were looking forward to soaking in the hot springs tonight.
The trouble began as we rode slowly away from the mission and several large, loose dogs came out of 2 or 3 front yards barking at us. The two largest made a beeline for Amber and we all started yelling at them. One of them, probably 80 lbs in weight, did not hesitate at all and bit her on her right calf. As she tried to evade the dog, she hit a curb and went down hard and it was fortunate her bike was between her and the dog. By this time we had all ridden up screaming at the dogs and a women, apparently the dogs’ owner, also came out, trying to control them. Some words were exchanged and seeing that we were very pissed about the entire episode, she grabbed the two aggressors, stuffed them in her car and left the scene.
Amber had a pretty severe bite wound on her leg but it was also clear that she had also incurred a painful shoulder injury. Rich called 911 and an ambulance was dispatched from Ronan, about 15 miles behind us.
While we waited we tried unsuccessfully to make Amber more comfortable, keeping her warm, cleaning the wounds and dressing them, but her shoulder was extremely painful.
Finally the ambulance arrived and the paramedics did a quick assessment. They thought the shoulder was possibly dislocated and needed imaging so the loaded Amber into the ambulance to go back to St. Luke’s Hospital in Ronan.
Now our challenge was to pack all of our stuff plus all 4 bikes and us into the truck. Rich had previously stated that he did not think it could be done. Even Jim had doubts but I was pretty sure we could do it. And, because we had to make it work, we did.
In all ER’s, it feels like things happen slowly, but thankfully Amber had received pain medication, had radiographs and even had her wounds cleaned by the time we got there. Her shoulder was not dislocated but her collarbone was broken and so she was placed into a sling and got prescriptions for antibiotics and pain. Of course it was recommended that she consult an orthopedist.
It was after 2:30 by the time we got the Rx’s and so we drove up to the hot springs. Happily Amber reported that the pain Rx had reduced her pain level from about an “8” to a “2”, and she recovered her sense of humor as well along the way.
Once we checked in, Jim and I soaked in the hot springs for a bit but it wasn’t as much fun after all that happened today. But Amber and Rich came to dinner with good appetites and in good humor so that is positive. Amber managed to set up a phone consult with a Kaiser doc in 2 days so the future of this tour is a bit in flux, depending on whether or not Amber and Rich decide to go home early and exactly how early that is.
Most of these pictures were taken through the window of the truck but they do give the flavor of the gorgeous scenery here.
Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 214 miles (344 km)
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