Countdown to Triathlon – 184 Days, 26.28 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 61 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

    

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

"If you haven't quit, you haven't failed."

I heard that quote on a Christian radio station yesterday.  I haven't quit training for the triathlon, but I'm getting nervous because the number of days to race time for the triathlon is getting smaller as you see in the title above.  My arm pain is preventing me from doing anything.  I can't walk on the elliptical,  walk the dog, swim or bike.  Of course my legs are fine, but the motion that biking or the eliptical trainer  makes, even on the stationary bike, jiggles my arm and causes pain.   I'll make an appointment for next week with the doctor to see what I can do to speed the healing.   Any of you that would pray for the arm's healing would certainly be appreciated.

  February 18, 2011 The other day when I took the pictures of the steep hill which I had ridden down in May of  2002, I drove by car to the spot where I crossed the road on Highway 108 and drove to Orange Blossom Road. That road winds around and curves so that by car your speed is about anywhere from 25-45 mph.  Houses are few and far between with many wooded areas. I was looking for the split rail fence that was in the story below. I had to continually pull over into driveways or side dirt roads to let cars pass me so that I could drive slowly, looking for the fence. I drove all the way to Knight's Ferry looking for it, but never found it.  I remembered that it was very close to the road.  I had really hoped to see it, but it was difficult because it has been nine years and it may have been torn down by now.  I was little disappointed at not finding it because it was a specific memory on that journey.  I'll even have to admit that I hoped I would see it with another bird and snake, but what I saw that day was a "once in a lifetime" sight and I'll have to be content with the memory.


The Journey - Installment Sixty-One

            At some point near Knight’s Ferry I was walking the bicycle, both hands on the handlebars.  I had gotten off the bike because my knees hurt so badly that I just couldn't ride.  As I walked along this winding, narrow two-lane road,  I noticed a split rail fence about two and half feet from me.  Between the fence and me were dried weeds. I don't remember any sounds at all at that point in the journey and  I just happened to look over to my right.  A very large bird, most likely a hawk,, although at close range it looked huge, was sitting on the bottom rail, close to the ground.  The bird filled up the space between the bottom and top rails and it had a very large snake in its beak.  Being so close to that snake, even though it may have been dead, caused me to scream.  I remember the scream because it was not like a shrill, high-pitched scream, but sort of a strangled one deep in my throat.  The fright of that snake in the bird's mouth, caused me to jump sideways,  pulling the bike with me a couple of feet into the road in total terror,  almost as if the snake had bitten me.  It did scare me very badly.  I immediately wondered if the snake could actually strike me even though it was in the bird’s mouth. It was fortunate for me that a car was not coming at the moment I jumped into the road or it would have hit me, since the road was so narrow and I would have surprised the driver, giving him no time to swerve.



This is the type of fence I saw, but there was only dried grass in front of it and no grass, only trees and weeds in the background.





    






















 (This is a picture of a similar bird with a snake.  However, remember, the snake was in the bird's mouth.  The snake was grasped in the beak about in the middle of it's length and both tail and head were drooping down towards the ground.  Thinking back now, it must have been dead, otherwise it would have tried to bite the bird and wouldn't have been hanging like that.  But at my first sight of it, the thought running through my mind was that it would strike me since I was so close and within striking distance.  This picture, which I got from the Internet, shows the snake in the bird's talons and not in the mouth and the snake I saw was bigeer in diameter and length.  I could find no picture showing a similar scene of what I saw that day.)

          I don’t know how many people ever see a hawk or eagle that close to them with a snake in its mouth.  I know I never have before and don’t imagine that it is very common sight.  I wondered, after my inuitial shock, if that bird and snake had any significance to me since God had shown me so many dead birds. What came to my mind at that moment was the picture of God as an eagle and even thought about the verse in Psalms 17:8 which reads, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.” Since an image of an eagle is given to God many times in the Bible, describing His protection under His wings,  I thought of the snake as being Satan, the enemy of us all and since Jesus was victorious over Satan  I saw it as a picture of encouragement that I would be victorious in this ride. I took it as encouragement, a special sign from the Lord.   This may be quite a stretch of the imagination, but this is what went through my mind after I recovered from my fright at seeing the snake and bird so close to me. Imagine me, out there alone in the heat of the day, woods all around me, no cars passing, total silence, pushing my bike with my knees throbbing,  and seeing this sight so close to me.  It is amazing now when I think about it.  I never did see that bird hop or fly off while I was still in sight of it.  It remained on that bottom rail while I was in viewing range.  The bird wasn't trying to eat the snake, it just remained there still as if it were a statue.  I mounted my bicycle again and the rest of the short ride to Knight’s Ferry was uneventful. Evidently, the scare of that scene also scared the pain from my knees, temporarily. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Come back Monday to see what happened on the thirty-five mile trip home.