A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Clovis
[image error]Clovis Texas, that is.
So JoLynn (the woman willing to live with me) and I are driving back to Albuquerque from Marble Falls TX, and I took a wrong turn in Lubbock (only Bugs gets lost in Albuquerque). As a result we get stuck on 84 Business instead of the loop around town, adding about 20 minutes to our trip. That’s not a big deal, except that it was a 12 hour trip already, and staying married for 12 hours in an Avalon requires a minimum of mistakes.
JoLynn took over the pilot’s seat in Lubbock. I had my head buried my head in my laptop.
Somewhere between Lubbock and Clovis JO says , “That motorcycle, she didn’t look good, should I pullover?”
“What motorcycle?”
“Ugh. The one on the side of the road! She looked limp.”
“Limp? She was driving? Sorry, I missed it.”
“There were two of them! He was holding her up, and then laid her down. They are on the side of the road.”
“Well, take that turn-around and lets go back.”
Zoom. I forgot who was driving.
“Maybe up at that town – no there is another turn-around up ahead.” I said.
Brakes, tearing asphalt, down to the 65 mph speed limit, hairpin turn, accelerating again, back five miles we go to another turn-around, more brakes, more asphalt, back in the original direction we go, the motorcycle and people are just a mile ahead.
It’s a large Harley parked off the right side of the little divided highway. The guy who had been driving was dressed for riding, in his late 20s, and was standing behind his girlfriend trying to give her a little shade. She was sitting next to the back tire, on the safe (non-highway) side of the bike.
“Do you guys need some help?” JO asked.
“Well, we left Lubbock and she started feeling sick. I decided to pull over, and as soon as we stopped, she fainted. I was just thinking, what would have happened if I had driven longer?”
Their names are Jody and Shawn. Evidently she was dehydrated, the bike was throwing out a lot of heat, it was around 100F outside according to our Avalon, and the combination made her woozy. His plan was to make it up to the next little town before Clovis, but had he kept to his plan, she would have fallen off the back of the bike at 65mph. Amazing what one little decision changes.
We were able to put her in the front passenger’s seat of the Avalon, crank up the AC, give her some water and a bag of ice, and wait for the Ambulance and Police to arrive.
The cop was a lot of fun. He was a young kid (late 20s?) who told us he loves these kinds of calls, when he can fly down the highway from Clovis at JoLynn speeds with lights and siren blaring. The EMT folks did all their checks - and while they were putting her in the ambulance for transporting to the hospital, I asked Shawn if we could pray for them.
What a cool time. The officer took off his hat, and the four of us stood off the side of Highway 84 and prayed. Shawn and Jody didn't seem like Christ followers, so our current prayer is that God will send someone to follow up with them.
A funny thing happened on the way to Clovis, one of the more funny/cool adventures on our entire trip. And, it wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t gotten on the wrong road in Lubbock.
JO should be thanking me. You think?
