Maybe The Bear Just Wanted A Ride – Dave’s Bear Encounter From My Perspective
July 17, 2010
Last Sunday, my husband got hit by a black bear while riding down Highway 101 about 25 miles south of Newport, OR. We were heading home from a trip with some friends. I was on my motorcycle a little bit behind him.
Fortunately, and miraculously, Dave is fine. No broken bones – some road rash, soreness and lots of bruises. Luckily, he had on his leather jacket with elbow pads, a Kevlar helmet, heavy boots and Kevlar-lined jeans.
And, we finally found out the answer to the question, “Does a bear shit in the woods…”
This past week has been a bit of a ride – lots of emotions, trying to figure out the sequence of events to determine why his bike is more damaged than he is (I know he was riding the bear part of the time!).
His story is a bit different than my story. And, I’m sure the man in the car behind me has another story, and the people that came to our aid had yet another. We each had a different perspective, based on where we were at both physically and mentally at that moment.
For me, there was initial horror at what I was seeing – a big black bear running full speed out of a wooded area, down a short hill and across the road headed straight toward Dave and t-boning his bike. (Dave was going about 40-45 mph at that moment.) Seeing them tangle up, Dave struggling to keep his bike in control, he and his bike going down and then sliding down the road 50+ feet with the bear under him part of the way. I still get pretty emotional thinking about it – and a bit sick to my stomach.
It’s interesting how the brain functions after that. I hit my brakes a bit hard; the back tire started squirreling a bit, and then fortunately my logical side kicked in – “Hey, I don’t need to go down as well, let off the brake, get in control, think about what happens next.”
Things happen very fast, and at the same time it feels like slow motion. I stopped my motorcycle on the side of the road behind Dave (he finally slide toward the side of the road where the gravel stopped him and his motorcycle). The bear was still there between Dave and me – probably for a few seconds but seemed like eternity. I remember thinking “OK, how I get that bear out of the way – should I rev up my engine…” Yes, it was interesting some of the crazy things that go through your head. Fortunately, the bear decided to run off to wherever he was headed in the first place.
You start thinking several seconds ahead and sometimes even further than that. Dave wasn’t moving – get there and see if he is conscious. He’s conscious – lift the motorcycle off his foot (it was the first time I dead-lifted a fully-loaded Harley – thank God for adrenaline). Dave was drifting in and out. Try to keep Dave immobilized (unfortunately, his adrenaline started kicking in). Thoughts going through my head like “If he leaves here in an ambulance, what do I need to do with the motorcycles – can I get on my bike?” A bit of panic sweeps in and I start thinking “I need to shift into the ‘I-can-handle-this’ perspective and deal with what is happening.” It was a back and forth battle between the “panic” and the “grounded” perspectives for the rest of the day
We were very lucky that so any people stepped up out of the blue and helped us – we are forever grateful for that. It was incredible to see the kindness. The man behind me stopped and was on his phone calling 911 before I got off my bike. He directed traffic the whole time. He was driving a car that had exempt license plate and he wore a yellow polo shirt with “Parks” on it. Unfortunately, I either didn’t get, or I don’t remember all the names of those wonderful people. The couple that came running out of their house when they heard the crash. The man helped me with Dave and stayed with us the entire time. His wife directed traffic coming the other way. The women in the area that were listening to the police scanners and came within minutes with first aid. The police and sheriff officers that were just the best. I know there were others, too. THANK YOU to all of these folks that helped us through this whole ordeal!
One of the icky things I remember was the gawkers – people going by in their cars while Dave is still laying on the ground. There were some people stopping and straining their necks, asking what happened. For some reason, that was very weird and hard to deal with. I just couldn’t answer them at the moment – I had other things to think about.
After Dave got checked out (no concussion!) and bandaged up, several guys helped right-up his Harley and push it over to the other side of the road into a driveway. That’s when we all noticed it – while Dave and the bear were skidding down the road, the bear had pooped all over the side of Dave’s motorcycle!
Yes, the bear pooped on Dave's bike!
You guessed it – we could see what the bear had for breakfast that morning! We all had a good laugh, and we continue to laugh about it. Yes, the bear poop is still on the bike. It will be difficult to wash it off. It brings levity to what was a serious situation – and that is a good thing.
The motorcycle was all scratched and scraped on the left side. Side mirror was shattered, windshield bent, casing around the headlight bent (headlight worked), fender bent, and several other areas bent, heavily scraped and gouged. However, it was drivable.
Yes, after that, we got on our bikes and spent the next eight hours, 250 miles, on the road to head home, most of which was cold and a bit drizzly. Yes, that male I-can-ride-a-bear-and-get-banged-up-and-still-ride-home macho adrenaline kicked in! We stayed on back roads, and I stayed on full-alert the whole time. Not just for things on the side of the road (yes, we came to a wary roll when we saw the two deer on the side of the road), but also to keep my eye on Dave for any signs that he may be having some side-effects of his bear encounter.
Was he really mentally fit to do this? Was he going to pass out or something? He just had a pretty traumatic thing happen and now he’s back on his motorcycle. There were times I yelled at him (like when the guy in front of him was stopping and Dave wasn’t). Fortunately, we have a communication system so we can talk to each other. We stopped frequently, kept hydrated and fed. We had to laugh when we went through one town that had a big sign that said they were having their “Bear Days” Festival! Needless to say, I was really, really happy to pull in the driveway that night.
It would be interesting to know what other people saw – what the story is from their perspective. Those that helped, those that saw what happened, and even those that had to wait in the traffic back up. You can read the story from Dave’s perspective here. We probably all saw the events in a different way. I’m really glad, at the end of the day, our story ends with Dave having no serious injuries – and a bear story that we will remember forever. Especially if he never washes the bear poop off his motorcycle!
Norma Dompier