Tonight was the first time we let the boys take their motos a very long distance and we knew they'd be returning after dark. For a few months now, they've followed me on random journeys, driven a few places within a few minutes of the house, and practiced around where we live. We bought the motos for them to be able to get places on their own, so this was the goal. Tonight, they were going to youth group and I decided to let them do it on their own for the first time. I did tell them to let me know when they arrived.
I got the message that they arrived, but the time had been changed for the week, so they were an hour later. This was the conversation.
Both hands took some damage.
The knee of his jeans was torn open and a little skin damage as well.
And his elbow.
Even the headlight and side mirror were damaged.
Needless to say, we're so glad he's okay. A stranger on the street picked up his moto and turned off the engine, then came to help Tyler up and make sure he was okay.
Troy says it might have been just as bad or maybe even worse for him. Apparently, he had looked in his side mirror to see if Tyler had caught up. He must have looked just as Tyler pulled the brakes because all he saw was Tyler's bike start to roll and Tyler going down. He says it looked like the moto rolled right over Tyler. Troy says he slammed his breaks and put his feet down to stop his own moto. By the time he stopped and could check on Tyler, the other man was already helping him.
Somehow in the midst of the crash, Tyler's headlight got turned on. It's just a little button/lever, so it wouldn't be hard for it to get pushed. They weren't far from a major intersection that the police like to work hard. It is illegal to drive with your headlights on during the day. When Tyler went through the intersection, he got pulled over for having his headlight on. Fortunately, the officer let him turn it off and go with a warning. (This is actually a topic of conversation and laughter here because lots of people get pulled over and fined for this major offense.) :)
Now, to make this mother's night even better, there's one more detail to add to this first solo moto trip. Tyler messaged me that they were leaving church. I went outside to open the gate and was waiting for them to arrive. Finally, I saw one moto coming down the street. As I leaned around at another angle to look for the other one, I saw a moto with no headlight on. Surely this could not be one of my sons!
As I stood in the driveway, sure enough Troy pulled up with no headlight on. The story is that they tried to turn it on but it wouldn't work, so they assumed it was "not working" but they had to get home. He had driven all the way from church with no headlight on. I walked over to the moto and turned on the light. Troy was so surprised and said, "that's what that switch is for?" Honestly, I about lost my cool. (In his defense, a little, the light on his moto does work differently, it has 2 switches instead of one.)
We had a long talk about the fact that my phone never rang. I didn't get a phone call asking if I knew why the light might not be coming on, even though I bought the bike and drove it myself a few times. We brainstormed some ways to solve similar problems more safely in the future (like maybe trying every switch and button on the moto) and we're glad to know that Troy did use good strategies to get home safely (driving very close to Tyler so that Tyler's light made Troy visible and staying in clumps of other motos so that he wouldn't be too far away to be seen or see the road).
And that was the end of our night's adventure. If I have a full head of gray hair next time you see me in the US, don't worry. I earned them all! :)
I got the message that they arrived, but the time had been changed for the week, so they were an hour later. This was the conversation.
You can see my last response. Now, if you know Floyd and the fact that the kids are a lot like him, I wasn't calling to freak out. Tyler saying he wiped out was one thing, but when Troy said he got pulled over as well, there was a good chance that this was all just a joke to have a little fun at my expense. I had to call to hear their voices and no if this was real or not.
Sure enough, it was true. Tyler had gotten blocked at an intersection, so Troy was a good distance ahead. Tyler decided to drive a bit fast to catch up, which isn't normally a big deal and nothing to worry about in most cases. However, just before he caught up to Troy, someone pulled in front of him and he had to pull the breaks hard and fast. He happened to be on a sandy part of the road, so that moto wasn't coming to a hard stop. Instead, it went sliding. He did bail off and roll, so his body didn't get as much damage as it could have. Check out the photos and then I'll tell you how the story gets even better.
Both hands took some damage.
The knee of his jeans was torn open and a little skin damage as well.
And his elbow.
We bought these shoes in the US because his size is so hard to get here and expensive when you do find it. He literally started wearing them last week and this damage occurred in the accident.
If you've never seen moto scratches, let me tell you that these are pretty serious. They are deep grooves.
Even the headlight and side mirror were damaged.
Troy says it might have been just as bad or maybe even worse for him. Apparently, he had looked in his side mirror to see if Tyler had caught up. He must have looked just as Tyler pulled the brakes because all he saw was Tyler's bike start to roll and Tyler going down. He says it looked like the moto rolled right over Tyler. Troy says he slammed his breaks and put his feet down to stop his own moto. By the time he stopped and could check on Tyler, the other man was already helping him.
Somehow in the midst of the crash, Tyler's headlight got turned on. It's just a little button/lever, so it wouldn't be hard for it to get pushed. They weren't far from a major intersection that the police like to work hard. It is illegal to drive with your headlights on during the day. When Tyler went through the intersection, he got pulled over for having his headlight on. Fortunately, the officer let him turn it off and go with a warning. (This is actually a topic of conversation and laughter here because lots of people get pulled over and fined for this major offense.) :)
Now, to make this mother's night even better, there's one more detail to add to this first solo moto trip. Tyler messaged me that they were leaving church. I went outside to open the gate and was waiting for them to arrive. Finally, I saw one moto coming down the street. As I leaned around at another angle to look for the other one, I saw a moto with no headlight on. Surely this could not be one of my sons!
As I stood in the driveway, sure enough Troy pulled up with no headlight on. The story is that they tried to turn it on but it wouldn't work, so they assumed it was "not working" but they had to get home. He had driven all the way from church with no headlight on. I walked over to the moto and turned on the light. Troy was so surprised and said, "that's what that switch is for?" Honestly, I about lost my cool. (In his defense, a little, the light on his moto does work differently, it has 2 switches instead of one.)
We had a long talk about the fact that my phone never rang. I didn't get a phone call asking if I knew why the light might not be coming on, even though I bought the bike and drove it myself a few times. We brainstormed some ways to solve similar problems more safely in the future (like maybe trying every switch and button on the moto) and we're glad to know that Troy did use good strategies to get home safely (driving very close to Tyler so that Tyler's light made Troy visible and staying in clumps of other motos so that he wouldn't be too far away to be seen or see the road).
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| I think even in the helmet you can read his facial expression when I turned on that headlight. |
And that was the end of our night's adventure. If I have a full head of gray hair next time you see me in the US, don't worry. I earned them all! :)
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