Sexual Assault

 I made the trip back to Winnipeg and a bed was not ready for me. It was the emergency ward that took me in and it was as if the accident had happened yesterday. Two days later, the dementia ward on the fifth floor gave me a bed in a room with one other dementia ridden patient. The bed was as uncomfortable and the food as terrible as Calgary. The only plus point was that I had daily visits from Cheryl.

It was on the third night that I became aware of two people in my room. They were both dressed in the beige hospital uniform, worn by the people who did food distribution and the cleaning of both patients and wards. One soon left, but the other sat on the floor in a hiding position between the windows. After a while , my visitor crept over to the bed and his both hands dived under the covers at my waist-line. I  reacted with a swipe of my left arm and a mouth full of expletives. This had my attacker withdraw from the room only to return moments later, re-arrange the covers at the foot of the bed and utter some excuse about making a check. I told him again to "Fuck Off" which he did..

Sleep became my big problem after the attack, laying awake became a way of life. I stashed a bottle of pop in the bed as a alternative to wrist damage. My two visitors spoke a foreign but I could not identify either although the bedside visitor had a short and stocky stature. Both never seemed to have been on my ward before but obviously thought dementia sufferers with their memory problems were an easy number for queer boy attacks. I wonder how many have taken place without re-percussions when 1 in 3 of hospital ward male employees are known to be gay.

My next objective was to leave hospital in Winnipeg and return home to recover. Nine weeks would have been 13 if rehabilitation had taken place in hospital  but Cheryl organized a release. There have been blood tests and clinic visits along with physiotherapy sessions. No pain, no claim, and body recovery has taken place. The wrists are getting stronger, the walking is getting quicker and the brain is getting sharper. The only negative thing is that the Province Of Manitoba has cancelled my driving licence for two years because of the serious blow to the head.

Alzheimers.

 Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and the kind that most people thought I had. The symptoms are the same but there is no recovery just a slow decline over the years. Lack of memory, slurred speech, poor physicality and bad mental decision making are the main dementia signs. My bang on the head brought all these on but my brain started to heal itself by a system known as rewiring, where new connections are made to replace broken bits that were damaged by the blow to the head.

My memory was gone for about five weeks and has still not returned from the accident. I came round eventually, to find myself tied in bed at Calgary Hospital. I could not walk or talk and had lost about 50 pounds in body weight. I had no clothes or money and no one spoke to me. Cheryl  made the trip from Winnipeg to Calgary and proved what a savior she had been and luckily not the passenger on the motorcycle.

Cheryl had set in motion a claim for the motorcycle, found all missing paperwork and organized my trip back to Winnipeg by medical airplane transfer. My partner had made a Calgary trip in July but I knew nothing about it and had slept most of the time I hadn't been acting weird. The hospital bed was  uncomfortable, the food was terrible and being in a dementia ward was disheartening. Winnipeg looked like a good option but after couple of weeks looking for a bed in Manitoba it looked unlikely. But Calgary had booked the plane and was going to send me anyway.

Recovering from Dementia.

 Any body with any knowledge of dementia knows the disease is not recoverable, so what did I have that was so confusing. Short answer: A bad bow to the head coupled to my old age and dementia-like symptom of amnesia, the result of a motorcycle crash and 9 weeks in hospital.

It all started, so I have been told, on the 11th of July 2023 when I ended up in a Saskatchewan ditch, lying next to a written-off KTM 790. An old gentleman eventually found me and phoned the ambulance, how long I laid there, beside a deserted road, I do not know. The hospital at Medicine Hat flew me to Calgary because of the state of the injuries. My closeness to the province border was the reason for my journey to Alberta.

The Emergency Room at Calgary did a good job of cutting-off all my riding gear before the x-rays and CAT scans showed the two bleeds in the brain and the two broken wrists. A bed was found and although I remember nothing of this, my amnesia was identified and the broken wrists were plastered. I have lost a pair of Kevlar lined motorcycle trousers and a jacket complete with armoured elbows, shoulders and back protector which must have saved me from more serious injury. Infact all my clothing and equipment disappeared  and I was left wearing just a hospital bed-gown that secured only at the back.

To be continued.

 Day 1: There’s not much to recommend Winnipeg but if you want to start a motorcycle tour from the Centre of Canada; then it is a handy place to live.

Away early, into a stiff breeze. Avoiding the Trans-Canada Highway by sticking close to 49th Parallel. Westbound, all day on the KTM 790; flicking through the computer read-outs as flat and straight roads gave plenty of time to think of what was to come.
Oxbow municipal camping and nobody came to collect the fee. Quiet, grassy site by the river; a warm day and evening. 

  Day 2: Cramp during the night in calf and thigh. Am I too old for this? Riding and tent camping at 67 after 20 years of no riding. The bum aches too, even with padded cycling shorts.

Out of Manitoba: one day. Out of Saskatchewan: one day. Flat land that seems to be running downhill; but it is only the curved surface of the planet. Pushing on, using minor roads and rolling through small towns; most with a campground, some neat and tidy, some neglected and overgrown.
I head for something different: Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, an oasis of hills and forest that was missed by the last Ice Age. Expensive, with park entry fee on top of campsite fee. One of the disadvantages of lone-rider travel. The site is big enough for four.

  Day 3: Disappointed with Cypress Hills; overpriced and gloomy, only the cinnamon bun at the food stand shone. Fine riding weather again, no rain so far. By mid-afternoon the Rocky Mountains are in sight, spirits are lifted but I find I can only do about 90 minutes before needing a rest. A tankful of fuel lasts two riding sessions at about 65 mpg at 65 mph.

Finally out of the Prairies, towards the Crowsnest Pass. The Frank Slide shows how mountains can come down but I push on into British Columbia; heading for a Recreation and Trail Site. Free camping at Hartley Lake, in the hills above Fernie.

  Day 4: Two picnic tables, one pit toilet and enough room for three tents. Hartley Lake is a typical Rec Site. User maintained; that means, keep it clean, keep it tidy. Three KTMs call in while I’m packing up. 690, 790, and an 890; three guys out of Calgary. Their last day of five, off-roading in the mountains and it seems they all forgot to bring soap.

Tim Hortons for breakfast in Fernie before heading up to Raduim Hot Springs via Windermere and Invermere. I will be clean even if COVID regulations mean an hour long wait to enter. One of my big issues when touring is having to pay entry fees for natural features of our planet. It seems like every scenic or interesting place has a fence round it, someone has assumed ownership and charges to see or use. Raduim Hot Springs was $8.00, so not too bad but mostly I steer clear of tourist traps.
Another Rec Site for the night helped balance the finances.

 Day 5: Wapta Falls Rec Site, spectacular view across the valley, 5 miles south of the Trans-Canada Highway, east of Golden. Heading back into Alberta for trip along the Icefield Parkway.

Fifteen years of truck driving in North America and I have ticked-off 49 states and nine provinces but the Icefield Parkway has always been forbidden to an 18 wheel-semi. At last a chance to run the most scenic road in the World.
It is beautiful, I am not disappointed. The heart of the mountains in warm sunshine. The jewel in the crown is the Columbia Icefield. I ride to the foot of the glacier; the huge busses on the ice far above look small but the cost of the trip is large. The place reeks of tourist trap but looking past the commercial aspect; it is an awesome site.
I camp at Icefield Tent, a National Park campground. $25 +$10 Park entry. But free free firewood and a warming hut with wood-burning stove. A pleasant evening in the hut chatting to other campers, I get my monies worth by stoking the wood-burner to capacity. Glad I brought my axe with me. 

  Day 6: The body seems to be getting in tune with motorcycle riding and nights on a sleeping pad. Along with shorter riding days and more interesting places to stop and see. Such as Athabaska Falls which has much water and many people, being a Sunday, I suppose. Jasper is heaving too; a quick $20 fuel refill and off to McBride. All along the Yellowhead, a highway that started in Manitoba and will end at Mile Zero in Haida Gwaii. Not that the former Queen Charlotte Islands were my original destination, but since the North West Territory has not opened it’s border to tourists; I have decided on a Pacific ferry ride.

The Lake Cobb Rec Site, between Prince George and Vanderhoof, is home for the night. An awesome tent site at the water’s edge. So incredible that my neighbours come over twice to ask if it is really free of charge.

  Day 7: Booking the ferry to Haida Gwaii proves to be problem: fully booked. I go on the online waiting list and carry on with the Yellowhead towards Prince Rupert. A long day beside the Skeena River. Salmon are in the river, it’s that time of year. I stop at Kitwanga junction, start of the Cassiar Highway. There’s a couple of GS BMWs; American riders heading to Alaska. Unlike my efforts to get to the Arctic Ocean; they should be able to get to Fairbanks.The Prudhomme Provincial Park looks like a good spot to stay. Ready for a quick dash to catch the early morning ferry.