My Nose
We were camping in Baja with my Aunt Freda
and I can't remember if it was simply time to go home
or a rain was forcing the issue. It seems that Freda
has experienced far more than her share of rain in Baja.
Could she be the problem? Dinah was in one of her "moods"
and that means being no help and as much hindrance as
possible without physically moving. I am sure that our
normal trip then was three days and she was never ready
to go home. We now stay four days and she is ready to
go after that duration.
I decide that I can start to get the boat
onto the trailer. This was the boat that we later donated
to common good of Mexico. Forget about it the boat sank!
The winch rope was looking pretty bad so I had just
replaced it with a new nylon rope. This boat is a 12
foot Gregor aluminum all welded construction with a
15 HP Suzuki two-stroke engine. Somehow things were
not in their normal relative position, which would have
the boat and trailer are slightly south of the van,
but today they just north of the van. The beach is a
little steeper here giving a shorter distance to move
the boat by winch. The boat has clip on wheels for the
rear only.
I align the boat and trailer then place
a sizeable rock behind each trailer tire, then pay out
the winch rope. I have attached the same hook that was
on the winch rope when we bought the boat. I make the
connection and return to the trailer and start the manual
process. Damn, this nylon rope stretches forever before
the boat moves. I don't care for that because most times
I need multiple ropes and every time that I have fully
recovered the winch rope I lose all of the distance
of the stretch. The boat is moving in short bursts,
not at all smooth. Freda is behind the boat trying to
help by pushing, I tell her that pushing is not really
helping. It is not difficult to turn the winch.
As
the boat moves to the steeper and softer part of the
beach the trailer is no longer aligned with the boat.
I set the manual anti-backup pawl and get trailer aligned,
this entails also moving one of the wheel stops. With
good alignment I start to crank again. Almost instantly
my entire day is ruined. You do not realize what is
happening, but your instincts know that something is
amiss. Instinct and reaction is not fast enough to save
my face in this case. The hook is missing from the boat
as the pulling load has straightened it. No longer constrained
by the boat it is now coming toward me at something
near escape velocity.
On impact I clearly see all of the planets
and most of the Milky Way. The hardest hit was on the
cheek with a sickening crack making me believe that
teeth were knocked out or broken. I put my right hand
over the impact area then instantly turn and run to
an ice chest that I know contains crushed ice. In less
than five seconds I am opening the chest and reaching
toward the ice with my right hand. The white ice chest
turns red from the blood in my hand. I grab a handful
of ice and shove my face in it. I find a chair, sit
down and tilt my head back until I am looking straight
up.
My tongue now does an inventory on my
teeth, hey they are all still there. This is not a time
to try to be pretty so I spit into my left hand not
even any chips. Where in hell is all this blood coming
from? Freda is running around wringing her hands, by
this time Dinah is up and she looks and informs me that
my nose is cut off. I ask her to find the missing piece
and put it on ice. Hell, maybe I'll just have a Michael
Jackson nose. After staring at the sky with a face full
of ice for twenty minutes the bleeding has stopped.
Inventory of the first aid kit reveals one and only
one butterfly Band-Aid. I avoid a quart of peroxide
only because the wound is too close to my eyes. Neither
of the women wanted to apply that one Band-Aid.
I hear something and look around to see
Willie Nelson walking into camp. The guy denied being
Willie Nelson but he was from Texas. His son was with
him and they needed tires, imagine that. He had an older
conventional van and I told him that Puertocitos had
a limited selection of used tires. At Puertocitos the
road becomes semi-paved, 15 years ago it was hit with
.250" of asphalt and now it has more craters than
the moon. From there it is about 50 miles to San Felipe
where the selection would be better and probably a better
price.
Willie would put the Band-Aid on my nose.
He washed his hands and did the deed. My wife wanted
me to stop at the doctor's office about 35 miles up
the road. I declined and then proceeded to tell a horrible
lie, I promised to see a doctor when we got home. I
had no intention of doing it. I can't bear the thought
of getting a local in the nose and then the thought
of getting stitches. That close to the ear one could
undoubtedly hear the needle puncturing and the thread
dragging through. Willie and his son helped finish the
loading and all he wanted in exchange was for me not
pass him on the way to San Felipe.
There had been some discussion as to who
was going to drive. I left no doubt about who was driving
citing that I drove 250 miles with a broken collar bone
that later had to be pinned because a muscle was jammed
between the separated bone ends. On that particular
drive I was alone. Before leaving Willie got me away
a few feet and said when you get near home you should
say, "I am feeling much better now that the double
vision is finally gone". That was too good to pass
up. I changed it to it is much easier to drive now that
I have only half as many vehicles to Dodge.
I am sure that Willie made it to San Felipe.
Back at home another discussion ensued. The nose is
eight hours into the healing process if I see a doctor
now he will tear it open find no foreign material then
sew it up. I can live without that.
Just prior to leaving on this trip I replaced
possibly a starter or alternator that had a core to
be returned. The counter person was a girl in her twenties
and she had excellent automotive knowledge. When I did
the return I went in and with my best fake rage I say
to her "This alternator exploded and just look
what it did to my face". Scared the Hell out of
her.
Lessons learned:
Use polypropylene for winch rope
Use a cast hook with a clasp to attach the rope to the
boat