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| Juan Carlos, from New Jersey, is one Tough Dude! This is the day after he took a tumble, but that's only the surface of the story..... |
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| A member of the "Iron Butt" riders, he's cut above some of the toughest riders in the world. Last year, at 66 years old, he rode an old 91 750 Honda nighthawk to the Arctic Circle, and back to New Jersey. Spend only a couple of nights in motels,chose to sleep out along the road when he got tired. A Mechanical Engineer, he's set up his little bike for long distance touring, and does his own maintenance and repairs. He travels very light. |
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| Starting the 3rd day in on a Cross Country Trip, around midnight, he was Westbound on Interstate 8 near Dateland, AZ. Speed limit is 75 mph, he estimates he was going between 70 and 75, when he went to sleep. He was exhaused after two very long days, but needed to get to San Diego by morning. He woke up tumbling across the median, across the East bound lanes, and both him and the bike ended up several hundred yards from impact with the pavement, out in the desert on the South side of the highway. |
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| The frame tells the story! A truck driver stopped and helped him get up, and get the bike up. He shook it off, got on the bike and rode off. He was sort of in shock. Someone had called the police, so he was soon pulled over. Treated very nice by the officers, and by Border Personal (he was just a stone's throw from Mexico). They gave him some food, tried to get him to a hospital, but he signed a release refusing medical help. He HAS to get to San Diego! Unknown to him, he had a broken wrist. He was in pain, but HAD to get to San Diego! |
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| He rode over a hundred more miles to El Centro, CA, where he stopped to try and find gas at 3 AM. He asked a police officer there, but was treated badly, and was starting to really hurt. He didn't feel comfortable staying in El Cento, So....turned around and rode 65 miles BACK to Yuma. By mid morning, he was in a motel, close to the interstate. He took a nap, and in mid afternoon was going to ride to see a doctor. But, it was hovering at 109 degrees, and he couldn't bring himself to get back on the bike. The motel took him to the emergency room at the Yuma Medical Center. He was x-rayed had a thorough examination. Showed a severely broken left wrist, but other than some road rash on his right arm, he appeared all right. His protective clothing and helmet probably saved his life. He asked the doc to put on a hard cast with a hook so he could operate the clutch an ride back to New Jersey. The doc didn't think that was a real good idea. Pat and I arrived at his motel in an unusual rain storm around 10:30 AM on the 30th. After going over the options available to him, he decided to leave the bike in our storage room at the RV park. He plans to rent a car in the morning, and drive himself with most of his gear back to New Jersey. When he's healed up and rested, the bike may be shipped, or, he may come get it and ride it home. |
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| Headlight frame bent, windshield is trash, turnsigal broken, but over all, not a lot of damage. The bags were ground down, but that saved the metal parts. Nothing of his gear was totally ruined. His computer, GPS, etc. all are fine. Some kind of miracle. |
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| It's in the 90's but I borrowed Juan's beat up jacket, and rode the bike about 4 miles in the rain to our RV park. It started right up and purrs like a little sewing machine. This is the same bike he rode to the Arctic Circle last summer. 21 years old. Honda makes them strong :-) |
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| The bike will be safe here until he decides what to do with it. Was a pure pleasure meeting and getting acquainted with Juan. A fine man, and a REAL motorcyclist. Some people talk a good story, but Juan lives it! Will add to the story as time goes on. If any of the facts aren't exactly right, it's because this is only the "day after". Juan told them as he remembered, but said he was still just a little fuzzy. He appeared to be very bright to me! And, he's almost 67 years old, and tough as nails! |
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