Please let me 1st say, this is no one's fault but my own. Accidents happen & most of us try our best to avoid or prepare for the worse & the same has been true when it comes to Teddy, but yesterday I failed him
I've known for a while that group ryding really isn't a good fit for us, as I've written about in previous posts, for different reasons. But one reason I hadn't discussed was the attention that it takes to be part of a group ryde less alone the attention it takes to be a group leader & sadly, that attention has to come from somewhere and yesterday, that was to Teddy's detriment:lecturef_smilie:
Long story short, I had the Teddy-Cam set to the 2nd camera to watch for the ryders following behind us, and not on Teddy. The GPS leading our group to Lamonts from Maggie Valley called for us to take a small side road when I noticed the yellow Spyder was no longer behind us as they were, so we had to come to an abrupt stop so they could catch up & not miss the sharp turn. I hadn't realized that Teddy was standing when we came to the abrupt stop & consequently flipped over the side of his carrier. His safety harness did its job & kept him from being thrown from the sled. But then, something unplanned for happened.
His Vet, Dr. Neiman, confirmed he had gained over a pound over this past weekend and in doing so, his 12+ pounds caused the adjustable strap used to tether him to slip to its full-out position, unthinkably allowing him to hang low enough to come into contact with the hot exhaust & even the road with his hind paws:yikes:
With the camera set for rear view, I didn't see this & my attention was on the group instead of him:lecturef_smilie: His safety harness secures around his chest and front paws, so there was no chance he would get choked, thank god:bowdown: but with the adjustable strap let out to its fullest due to his weight, he was hanging there next to the exhaust and with his tippy toes of his hind paws touching the asphalt and I did the unthinkable:shocked: not knowing this, when I saw a Spyder pulling in behind us, I started going forward again :yikes:
We had done the Dragon & the Rattler & he had never had an issue with keeping his balance & I guess I was complacent in his safety & allowed my attention to be flowed to other priorities, that of the group instead of where it should always be, on him.
I had just rolled on the throttle when Stan, who was behind us saw what had happened and started honking his horn to alert me :helpsmilie
robably saving Teddy's life :bowdown: Not knowing why he was honking, I let off the throttle and quickly checked my mirrors & saw Teddy hanging over the side of the right saddle-bag :shocked: the frantic look in his little eyes will likely haunt me forever. Sheer Panic, struggling to do what he could to stay away from the intense heat of the exhaust & keep his paws off the asphalt.
I instinctively did as we'd practiced, and immediately reached back and swung him back up into his carrier where he was once again safe. I switched the camera and could see he was ok, stressing and licking his rear paws, but ok for the most part. We kept going following the group the next 5 minutes to Lamonts, and then proceeded to give him a thorough check out once we got stopped at his wifes sewing cabin so we were kind of out of sight so we could do the assessment without immediately getting bombarded by his fans.
He wouldn't walk on his left rear leg & I feared he had broken it, but couldn't feel anything broken, but the pad on his paw was burnt & had signs of road rash with a tinge of blood. My heart sank, cause this was my fault, and I started stressing. Did what I could, put a fresh ice pack under his carrier pad for him, so he at least had a cool pad to sit on & thankfully Bobby & his wife gave me a tube of burn cream that they had & I applied it to his injured rear paws. Stan stayed and talked with me to help calm my nerves & Robin & her husband was kind enough to go get food for both of us, thank you all.
For the most part, I didn't say anything to anyone that stopped to take pics, as it was more drama than I could've dealt with at the time, so if I was short with you, my apologies. Teddy was able to pose for a few pics but he was hot and stressed so as soon as Robin got her new exhaust installed, the 4 of us took our leave, heading back to Cincy.
With me being so stressed, and over heated, I had to stop after a couple of hours cause I was getting dizzy and the beginnings of a migraine& noticed I had problems keeping the sled in a straight line, so I didn't push myself, m fearing a wreck & stopped at the next fuel station. I explained to the others how my body is, and that the only thing that would help me was to take a nap, so I got them to agree to leave us behind & to go on, and that we'd take a nap and then head back out when I felt better.
TBC........... sorry, battery almost dead......... the rest later, just know, Teddy will be ok
ray:
kinda reminds me of look'n at a stoner :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:
We had to decline their offer tho, since we were already at my bro's and needed to catch up on how he's progressing with his recent surgery, but was still nice to be asked out. I'm so glad that we met them, and only had to go 300 miles to do it 
hyea:He's such a ham, always adding the tongue action when it comes to the ladies 
