Since I've moved I have a longer ride to the hospital (and everywhere else) to make my visits, go to town, etc. The good part of that is, I get to ride my bike longer. I was thinking today about the rattles that are on our bikes, especially the speedometer. And thankfully, I've never heard that. Of course, I'd have to have my head in the gas tank to hear it. But hey, as long as I don't hear it, it doesn't bother me.
Back to the snake topic, a couple of weeks ago I was coming home from the funeral home, my second job. I was wearing my suit and riding the bike, naturally. Someone had run over a rattlesnake on the highway, so I stopped to collect the rattles. But when I cut them off, there was a little meat left on them. Not wanting to put that in my good clothes pocket, I looked around and found a piece of paper on the shoulder, wrapped the rattles in that, and stuck it all in my shirt pocket. That worked well for about two miles and then everything blew out right in front of my eyes. I didn't even slow down for them.
And late this evening, someone hit a bear in their Suburban. Bent the bumper pretty good, but straightened that out with a chain and a truck. Minor injuries to the passengers, killed the bear. I couldn't help but think what if a motorcycle had hit that bear. And while we (the VFD) were still there, another bear crossed the road about 200 yards farther down.