26. Close Call

Back in the early 80’s, we accompanied our good friends, Paul and Jeannie, to the Falling Leaf Rally held every year in October. This large rally was hosted by the Gateway Riders BMW club from near St. Louis and was held in the little town of Bland, Missouri. It was reached only by riding some of the prettiest “letter” roads in Missouri.

The back roads in Missouri are coded by letters such as M highway or F highway or any other letter that the map makers and the Highway Commission happened to like. All had in common great scenery, very little traffic, and in October, rich color splashed all over the trees.

We stayed at the quaint little Belle Motel in Belle, Missouri, about five miles from the rally site at Bland. This was part of the charm of this rally; staying here with sheets that had been dried on a clothes line in the bright sunshine. They smelled so fresh and clean. And the donuts provided by the hosts early every morning along with hot coffee was not to be equaled anywhere. Best of all there was no phone and no TV!

We were headed home from one of these wonderful outings when we were destined to get behind a big, slow motor home that should have been on the main highway instead of cluttering up the twisties. Traffic was heavy on a late Sunday afternoon. We had given up on a spirited run through the curves and hills because of all the slow stuff in front of us. Paul and Jeannie were about a quarter of a mile in front of us stuck behind the previously mentioned motor home that was just poking along.

Suddenly, the Winnebago in front of Paul swerved sharply to the right, actually driving off the road! Directly in front of the Winnebago was an oncoming pickup truck whose driver was not paying attention and was way over in the on-coming lane, headed straight for Paul’s bike! He had drifted way left of center and was not aware of his position. When the Winnebago swerved to avoid the collision, Paul was totally exposed!

Paul has ridden for many years on a very nimble BMW. Lucky for him he also had a very quick reaction coupled with the superbly handling motorcycle. Thus he was able to just miss the oncoming truck. The driver of the truck helped a little bit by waking up at the last moment; realizing that he was in a pre-crash mode and jerked his wheel back to the right. They missed by mere inches and it was over in a flash. We were all shaken by how close this was and by how fast it developed!

This incident served to remind us how small the margin of error really is. Following too closely deprives the rider of critical vision of what’s waiting for us down the road. Worse yet; the bike is hidden from approaching traffic, seriously decreasing the time available for evasive maneuvers.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has an excellent program with video that illustrates this as well as many other hazards that the unsuspecting rider can blunder into. Take this course and watch the video carefully. They will save your life someday.

Also, play the “what if” game as you ride along. What if this car up ahead stopped unexpectedly? What if someone turned suddenly in front of me? Would I be prepared? Where would I go? What if someone did not stop when approaching me from the rear when I am at a traffic light? Did I leave enough room to make an evasive maneuver?

In over thirty years of riding, we’ve not lost anyone in our group. We want to keep it that way. Remember, too, that I’ll need material for my next book. If you check out prematurely, who will I write about?

Let’s be careful out there!