On our way to Nordkapp…

Today is Tue, May 29, 2012.

I’m way behind on the daily stuff so this is a digest version. Some of you may notice our last few days have centered around Hammerfest, Norway. Like all rides major events change goals and directions.

Long story short, on Sunday, May 27, ~5:00 PM, we were riding through a forest area and a large rain deer leaped in front of Martin. The impact was instant and Martin went down sliding 40 meters on the road.

I did not hit the SPOT “Need Help” or “Emergency SOS” because we had help immediately.

Within 1 minute two emergency phone calls were made. Within 5 minutes we had 2 nurses, a paramedic, an off-duty policeman, plus 2-3 drive by stop to help. Ambulance took 40 minutes to arrive from Hammerfest, Norway. Martin had three visual wounds -1) on the right foot 2) right knee and fingers. All the visible wounds are from road rash! The two nurses dressed the 3 wounds. The paramedic asked all the head injury questions and Martin responded well and was aware of everything, joking and helping the nurses while they covered his wounds. By the time the ambulance arrived he was stable, covered and laying on the side of the road.

The ambulance guys did everything again while talking to the paramedic and nurses. The off-duty policeman called the tow-truck and began writing his accident report.

I followed Martin to the hospital in Hammerfest, a 50-minute drive. Homer stayed with the bike and gave all the info to the tow truck driver. Homer followed the truck to the place where the bike will be stored and shipped back to Germany.

We check into the Thon Hotel in Hammerfest. Finally internet!

The Harley Sporty is not rideable. Visibly no front brakes, no headlight, broken clutch control lever, broken front and rear turn signals, bent right rear shock.

ER X-rays showed no broken bones. The road rash wounds are pretty deep. Homer and I will stay and leave Tue because Monday is a holiday and the moto storage place is closed. The moto storage need keys and vehicle registration to ship bike back to Germany

We’ll check in with Martin Monday morning and he is in good spirits. He will fly home from Hammerfest Tuesday. We then ride out to Nordkapp. We are a good three hours away.