A Day in the Tour of the Gila.

Setting

- Hospital Operating Room, Silver City New Mexico. Cortlan Brown (Astellas) wheeled in from Surgery. I'm next in line.

Time 

 - 1:00 A.M Thursday, May 1.

The Conversation

"Will! Man, they'll treat you reaaal nice, trust me, great people in there" 

"Wow, I am just, Wow, just great people in there"

Long Pause... 

To nurse, "Don't let him fool you, he's a tall one! Just wait until he stands up!"

Long Pause. 

"Just took a Sponsor correct Selfie. Operating room style."

Answers phone.

"Dude.... come in now. I'm the drunkest mormon you will ever meet"

With that I was wheeled in. Possibly the oddest circumstance of making a new friend I have experienced. Good news is that Cortlan and I are healing up fine from our injuries. 

How we got there. A Worse Case scenario. 

 - 45-50mph 

 - Group shoulder to shoulder on two lane road

 - Chip Sealed Road

 - Nervous Group. 

Some guy fell, other guys fell, then more fell, I fell and got up into an environment of a relatively tame war zone. 

 - Broken collarbones.

 - Multiple people screaming "medic"

 - Finger bones showing. 

 - Calls for a helicopter. 

 - People walking around in obvious shock. 

I thought I was fine until I looked down at my hip. I saw a deep gash (photos available via text if you're into that kind of stuff) and knew I was done. 

A 1.5 hour drive, 4 hour emergency room wait, 2 hour wound cleaning, 2 hour wait on whether surgery was necessary, 2 hour wait for surgery, 1 hour surgery, and a drive home from Shawn at 4:00a.m. and I had one new friend and holes sewn shut on my elbow and hip. FUN TIMES!!

Thanks -When hospitalized you end of saying thanks to many people. 

Everyone that helped at the hospital - Thank You notes already sent. (NOTE: never fuck with people that serve you food or take care of you in a hospital.)

Shawn Milne: Stayed with me at the hospital until 10:00p.m., picked me up at 4:00a.m., DS'd the next day at 8:30a.m., drove me to El Paso airport at 3:30p.m., Questioned his decision to D.S. this year all the way back to Silver City. 

Trevor Connor - Organized a flight home from the race. Picked me up at the airport at 12:45. Set me up with a follow up doctor. 

Alex Raicer - Cleaned out my wounds between the crash and the hospital. Consoled me, made a horrible situation markedly better. 

End 

Gila was definitely a disappointment. It's shit to crash like that but it could have been much worse. Hoping I'll be ready to go for Superior Morgul Classic.