It's not a good thing for your cell phone to play some 1980's music ringtone at 12:23 in the morning.
I stumbled across the room to where it sits on the dresser. If I put it on the night stand next to my radio, I hear these weird cellphone sounds broadcast over the radio and I find them rather disturbing, so the dresser is it's home.
"Hello?"
"Hi, This is John - I'm with the safety team on the ride. Oscar asked me to call."
"Oh. OK... I'm guessing something's wrong?"
"You might say that, sir. Oscar was cruising down a hill on Lake Shore Road when he tried to round a curve and his front wheel found some sand. The front tire went out from under him and he skidded across the road."
"Ouch! Is he OK?"
"Yes, Oscar's fine. He has a nasty case of road rash on his legs and arms. We took him to the hospital to get cleaned up and checked out and he's resting at a hotel now. He is insisting that he finish the ride tomorrow and wants to start from where he crashed."
"That sounds like Oscar."
The conversation went on for another 15 minutes. As I became more awake, I heard John tell me that Oscar had attracted quite a bit of attention on the ride.
He decked out his red recumbent with streamers and a sign on the back of his seat describing his ride for the Johnson family. It seems that the wreck and the pictures posted online made it a viral phenomenon.
Anyway, John mentioned Oscar would finish his ride in Sturgeon Bay late the next day. Oops, better make that today. He was going to continue the ride at 7:30 just south of Manitowoc.
After I hung up the phone - I made two quick phone calls to friends in town and made a post to my Facebook page asking for prayers for Oscar and re-posted his fundraising site to help the Johnson family and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Then it was time to pack, get a couple hours of sleep and drive up to Sturgeon Bay in time to surprise Oscar when he crossed the finish line.
That next morning, as I drove down our driveway my cell phone rang again and John said a crowd of 20 riders joined Oscar at his Sunday start and they were riding together. He said he'd keep me posted and if I timed my route correctly I could maybe catch up to the group when they stopped for lunch in Algoma.
I drove into the park overlooking Lake Michigan in Algoma around 11am. Less than 15 minutes later, I hear sirens and notice a slow moving procession cresting the hill into town. The Hook and Ladder truck was leading the way for three dozen bikes and Oscar was right up front.
He was moving slowly and as he got closer I was admiring the bright hues of the new bike shorts he was wearing. A tie-dye combination of purples, blues, yellows, and reds that looked vibrant against a palette of bikes, jerseys, and fire engines.
Then he rode past.
That was his thigh!
"Hey Man! Good to see you!" came the shout from my friend Oscar.
Oscar came to a halt and leaned his bike against the water lift station next to the park shelter where the lunch buffet awaited.
We hugged. "You are a mess," I said.
"I sure am," he told me. "But, at least I have a reason to look this bad." (He always was the funny one.)
Oscar told me about the accident. He was going down hill when he noticed a couple of deer out in a field, one of them an 8 point buck. He looked back in front of the bike soon enough to make the turn, but he didn't miss the sand.
He doesn't remember anything between that moment and when he woke up in the hospital. The emergency room doctors said his bike helmet probably saved his life.
Oscar's smile told me there was a lot more to the story.
"I got a phone call about an hour back," he said. "And it seems the funds have started rolling in to help the Johnson family. As of a half-hour ago we had $25,000 deposited since last night. We can really help John now."
"That's great, buddy. But it would have been fine if you didn't go paint up your leg to do it."
He shrugged and pointed the way to the buffet - piling up bread for Ham and Egg Salad sandwiches (two sandwiches, by the way, not in the same one). He grabbed a cold can of Mt. Dew and a pint of chocolate milk to go with eight Double Stuff Oreos tucked into his jersey pocket.
He finished eating and told me to go back home - he was fine, glad I came up, but he wanted to finish the last 30 miles in style.
That's Oscar for you. He wasn't thinking about his pain (and he was in some pain as evidenced by the way he was walking off the bike), but how others might get some help.
I grabbed another can of Mt. Dew for the road and headed home - anxious to see Oscar the next day so he could re-tell his story of the whole trip before and after his not-so-free trip in an ambulance.
The sun was setting when I pulled around the backside of the property and noticed one early achiever in my sunflower field.
It is way too early for harvest, but from the look of things, in a couple weeks that field will be smiling with thousands of bright eyed sunflowers.
As I hung up my Brewers ball cap on the rack just inside the back door of the house and headed up for a shower and bed, I said a prayer of thanks for the health and safety of my friend; the generosity of others to help those in need; and the blessing seen in a promising harvest to come.Despite the way it started, this was a very good day.
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