My Life as a Bike 2: 4 August 2011 Ride: Close Call

Tired and weary are the descriptive words for the day. Drove to the Botanical Garden and hit the bike trail starting from there for a change of pace. How nice to have a cloud cover and the temperature actually dropped a degree or two while riding.

I came across Bob Morgan a short ways in. We had taken on Mt. Magazine together, the highest point in Arkansas, sometime back. More on the cooler side that day, if I remember correctly. Definitely foggier with it very dense at times as we could barely see 100 feet in front of us. A good ride that started in Paris, AR.

Sunrise over Lake Fayetteville

On my way back, I was approaching Joyce St. Rather than waiting at the intersection for the light to change, I entered the large parking lot of the bank nearby and circled around the backside. It was still early, before the bank was open and the lot was empty. Coming around the back, a small grey sports car came from around the front. We were a good sixty feet away. I braked a bit too hard and went into a slight swerve but quickly regained control and steered to my right assuming the car would continue its arc to it's right. The car had tinted front windows so I could not see the driver but I assumed he had seen me. But, a moment later, the car was headed RIGHT AT me. Fortunately, I still had enough momentum to swerve further to my right... and the driver still did not seem to see me as the car was still headed right for me. At what could be considered the almost last moment, the driver finally saw me and veered enough to just avoid me. Needless to say, that got my heart pumping pretty well. And, a parking lot early in the morning would have been the last place I would have imagined having such a close encounter.

Coming around the front of the bank, the car was parked near the ATM machine. Still not being able to see the driver, the car took on a presence of its own, a soulless shark waiting in the reefs.

I had long forgotten about the incident when I came across the shoes below in the grass off the trail. I spotted one and when I stopped to take its picture, I spotted the other. They do seem to be the remnants of an accident or crime scene. It is interesting to conjure up just how these shoes would have been abandoned on the trail.