Marc takes a fall on the bike. ouch...

Gary called this morning and said they needed to head to Zephyrhills to make a quick fix to something on Vicki's pool. He asked if I wanted to ride along and he was trying to get some other peeps to ride today, Easter Sunday.

So, I sent a text to Marc. He loves to ride but I wasn't sure if had plans. He was able to join us. We had to stop and fill the tanks first.

We arrived at Vicki's house in ZHills and I took this self-portrait.

We ended up with three scooters on this ride. After they made the quick fix we headed to San Antonio (NOT Texas! LOL) for some tex-mex. The restaurant was closed. So, we headed to another place - some steak house by the highway. It took FOREVER to get our food and when it was brought to the table it was either wrong or cold. Marc asked for some tomatoes and the waitress brought him ketchup. I guess that is a form of a tomato, right? We finally got out of there around 4pm and headed home. I crossed two milestones today. The bike turned over 1K miles - LOLOL - AND - I drove the bike on the highway for the first time. I am not a go-fast-biker so the highway never appealed to me. I rarely drive the miata on the highway either. Well, I made it and was scared. Gary and Vicki headed south on 301 for home and Marc and I headed back to Seffner. He wanted to look at one of my duplexes that is empty. I need a renter! After he checked it out we decided to drive five very short blocks to another property. We were about a block away from the turn when this young pit bull ran towards me and then stopped. I slowed for the turn and looked in the rear view mirror and all I saw was marc sliding on the bike. I panicked and nearly dropped mine. I headed into the grass because I thought if I'm gonna drop it, I'm dropping it in the damn yard. I was so scared. Some guys came running over and pulled the bike off marc. Then they helped me stand the bike on the side of the yard. The dog is now yelping and leaning against the fence. The 'owner' comes out and says "I'm so sorry, I don't know how the dog got out. We just got him today. We took him from someone who was abusing him'.
Ok, I'll vent about that later.

Here is marc after the paramedics bandaged him a little. Marc was in shock and couldn't decide if he need an ambulance, etc. He settled for some gauze and band-aids.

Paramedics leaving. Injured Purple Rain to the right.

Purple Rain is the true victim here - well, besides the puppy of course...

Crunch

Scrape

Little bit of mangled parts.

Yeah, he's all smiles today. I bet that tomorrow he is a sore boy.
So... the dog... The dog is some sort of pitt bull and I would say the poor thing is less than six months old. The sentence uttered above by the owner was repeated at least 10 times during this event. I was fuming. Here is what I wanted to say:
You just got the dog TODAY, right?
YOU RESCUED the dog, right?

How did you not know where the dog was?
Why weren't you lovin' all over that poor, abused, rescued dog who just just got TODAY?
You have the dog less than ONE DAY and you allow it to wander off.... Wander far enough to get hit by a motorcycle?
I feel very bad for the dog. All of my blog readers know that I am an animal lover and will do anything for the paws. This human does not deserve any paws.

I was ready to slap her every time she uttered the statement above.

I felt bad that she was crying and was obviously upset. I would have been very upset too. Actually, I WAS very upset, in shock, shaking, etc.

Ok, I'll stop bitching about it and move on.

The best part is that Marc is ok. Purple Rain can be repaired. I'm not so sure the dog will make it through the night and I know I will have nightmares about this later. Yes, I will be taking a little sleep inducer.

I have to admit that I am freaked out and am ready to sell the bike. I know, I know, it was an accident and what are the chances of it happening again? The worst part is the memory of seeing him sliding across the pavement in my rear view mirror and hearing that poor dog yelping and crying.

I need a xanax. :)