Mike Humfreville - 5-17-2006 at 11:28 PM
Lessons Learned
Part One ? The Accident
It was one of those evenings. We were enjoying the tranquil weather in our home south of Bahia de Los Angeles. Mary Ann was wrapped around her
favorite television shows. I was pacing. I had planned on going downstairs to listen to some music but I know me and the volume I was in need of
would have disturbed not only Mary Ann but our neighbors scattered up and down the beach. I grabbed my favorite Andrea Bocelli, dismissed myself and
went south past Camp Gecko and off into the desert.
From the moment I was out of earshot I put Andrea in his place. At first everything worked well and sweet Italian arias are emanating from all my
speakers. I was close to heaven and drove slowly south thinking and absorbing the warmth of the music. Then the CD began to break up. I stopped and
cleaned it and found a place to park to avoid the vibrations. It still was breaking up and grew worse over the next few minutes. I was totally
frustrated, angry. I had not been drinking any of my favorite beverages, which may actually have made things worse. I turned and headed home in a
venomous state of irritation. Since there was nothing I could do to solve my problem all I could do was rant.
By this time it was beyond dusk, almost dark. I stomped the throttle and was going faster than I?ve ever gone on that road (not too much less than
80).
Just south of Camp Gecko there was, in the fading light, a spur in the road and I took the side road. Big mistake.
After about a hundred yards the road ended and I was still doing ~70. The road terminated into a sweeping boulder field. I tried to stop but
couldn?t. Vaca Blanca (Chevy Suburban) and I want sailing through the various sized rocks as I tried to brake. But it?s hard to influence a vehicle
that has very limited traction. I was hitting my head on the roof and smashing my back every time we launched and then came bouncing back to earth.
Finally we came to a stop.
I knew I had major problems. I was bleeding from several deep wounds and many smaller ones. My neck was sore. But my back was the major problem. I
had no ability to exit the car it hurt so badly. I sat there for half an hour, dripping blood and trying to analyze what I?d done to my back. At
this point my back was the weak point. After sitting for what I thought was time enough, I tried backing out of the field. I may have pulled forward
if that appeared simpler, I really don?t remember much. At any rate I re-acquired the main dirt road. I had a totally chewed up driverside front
tire.
I was about a mile from home, so I limped forward on the rim. After about 20 minutes I got home. My back made it all but impossible to exit the
vehicle let alone walk. There are 19 steps that lead upstairs to our living quarters. I don?t know how I climbed them, but I did. The Marine Corps
had taught me so many, many years before how to reach down within your soul and make things happen even though they seemed impossible and I know that
helped.
I don?t remember arriving at the top step of the case, but Mary Ann tells me I told her what had happened, went into our home and spent that night and
the entire next day lying on the couch or in bed hoping my back would stop aching.
Things didn?t get better over the next 36 hours. I couldn?t sleep. I couldn?t eat. But I was big on whining about a mistake that I had only myself
to blame for.
*****
The Pyramid Hotel, near the half way point between Rosarito and Ensenada was having a Baja Authors Book Signing that coming Saturday. We were due
there to sign my new book. I didn?t know how we were going to do it, but it would happen. Thursday morning we locked up the house for the 3 days
we?d be absent. Mary Ann drove and I rode in the passenger seat with dog Dito just behind us, nose always poking holes in the invisible wall that was
intended to keep him in the back seat. It never has worked and he is a member of our family and we permit him small encroachments into our front
seats.
Not far south of Ensenada I was feeling weak and moved into Dito?s territory in the back seat to lay down beside him. He was pleased. He is a
wonderful dog and somehow he knew something was wrong with me and tried to empathize in his own way.
Somewhere entering Ensenada from the south I started feeling seriously ill. Suddenly I threw up what must have been a pint of blood on the
floorboard. Blood covered Dito?s entire blanket and was running off the sides. I was very scared. It was pure blood and I know how little of that
precious substance sustains us.
Mary Ann drove into the Colon (as in Cristobal Colon) Hotel we have been patronizing lately. There she encountered some good friends, Selino and
Reina, that run La Reina?s restaurant in Bahia de Los Angeles. This was strikingly coincidental as they were there regarding business permits or
whatever. They told Mary Ann about a doctor they knew and led us there. As I was weak enough I couldn?t even think about walking, the doctor left
his confines to my office in Vaca Blanca?s back seat. He saw the large amount of bright blood and told Mary Ann to take me to the hospital
immediately. He gave her the necessary paperwork and directions to the nearest hospital, which we couldn?t locate even though it was only three
blocks from the Colon Hotel. In a panic, she pulls into a Pemex station and ran from car to car asking if someone spoke English. Even though I speak
adequate Spanish I was by that point unable to focus. She found a family that could show her the way to the hospital. They led us there. That
family, while I will likely never see them again, our friends Selino and Raina, and Mary Ann perhaps saved my life.
At the hospital, they wheeled me to an upstairs room, put me into a gown and began a process that had me incapacitated for several days.
To be continued?
Diver - 5-18-2006 at 06:26 AM
Wow !
Glad you were driving a tank, Mike.
Also glad to see you are well enough to post.
Best wishes towards a speedy recovery.
bajajudy - 5-18-2006 at 06:28 AM
Amen
Take care! Mike
Bruce R Leech - 5-18-2006 at 06:31 AM
Wow Mike I am glad you are getting better.
cant wait for more of your story.
Skipjack Joe - 5-18-2006 at 10:59 AM
Your injury sounds like serious stuff, Mike. I hope things are going well for you now.
But what possessed you to drive 70 on a side road like that! A dusty CD. Too much.
Semper Fi Mike
vgabndo - 5-18-2006 at 01:14 PM
Hang in there. Whew...life gets goofy out close to the edge. I've been doing a lot of anger management work lately, much empathy here. Perry
Bedman - 5-18-2006 at 08:21 PM
I've done IT, some of my best friends have done IT. IT, you ask?? You remember IT. That time you made an irrational decision and IT came back to bite
you in the Burro!
Glad to that see your on the mend my friend. Hope to see you in a few days.
As always,
Bedman