Your Close Encounter with an insect or animal?

[REVz]

After watching the posts in the short time since I found this site, I see that I have relatively mild experiences with hitting animals or insects...

 

In another post I mentioned my encounter with a bee which went down my shirt. Earlier this week I narrowly avoided a large Tom Turkey...

 

What's your most favorite (or not so favorite) insect or animal encounter/strike story?

 

Did it end with avoidance or impact?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

On the way to a local club's Sunday breakfast a few years ago, a skunk ran from the left side of the road. Got his head with my front wheel. I don't know if it was panic on his part right before impact, or the effects of the impact, but he sprayed for all he was worth, and plenty of it got on the bike. For about a mile I was on the verge of throwing up in my helmet, it was so strong.

 

I arrived at the breakfast, and other folks who came the same way after me smelled my bike and said, oh, so you're the one who hit that skunk.

 

It smelled again for the next couple of times I washed it.

[UberXY]

I've taken 3 birds in the chest and helmet. No prob for me, but I never looked back to see how the birds fared.

 

But one day when I was out riding I saw big Harley hit a dog. Dog, bike, and 2 people ended up in deep ditch along the road. The dog was dead, the bike looked ok except for a lot of replaceable plastic damage, the people left in an ambulance.

[Redbrick]

After watching the posts in the short time since I found this site, I see that I have relatively mild experiences with hitting animals or insects...

 

In another post I mentioned my encounter with a bee which went down my shirt. Earlier this week I narrowly avoided a large Tom Turkey...

 

What's your most favorite (or not so favorite) insect or animal encounter/strike story?

 

Did it end with avoidance or impact?

 

Does "animal related" count?....

 

Riding dirt bikes in the desert in the '70's moustaches were in vogue along with bell bottomed pants (not when riding)...Before full faced helmets were really commonly worn....

Stop on a rise for a break way out in the Mojave somewhere and Don says; "I been smelling cow s**t!"....The rest of us don't but Desert Fox walks over and points out that Don has a gob right in his 'stache"!!!! ......

That's a story that still occasionally surfaces when we old farts start reliving (and embellishing) the good ol' dirt bike days....

 

Phil........Redbrick

[MrHondamatic]

I was going through a small town and had opened my visor a little to get some air when a wasp shot inside. He must have flown out, because by the time I got the bike stopped, which didn't take long, he was gone.

 

Last spring we were out on a ride when one of my riding buddies made a quick stop to remove a bee from his helmet. He had seen the bee hit his jacket and assumed it was dead. A few minutes later he felt it crawling under his chin and into his helmet. He stopped to remove the helmet ASAP, and the bee left it's stinger in his glove as he pulled it out of the helmet.

[jcousins]

i haver a squirrel and a cat on my list - but there is a deer that has me on his list. jumped up from the side of the road and hit me square on the gas tank - didn't see him until moment of impact. was going about 60 - bike went down on its side - fishtailed and slid about 50' down the road with me on it - over the bank. somehow bike, me, and deer left the scene - all to be out another day. but watch out.

 

 

jerry

[Silver Surfer/AKAButters]

Once on the freeway doing 70+ with my face shield up (silly rabbit) I caught a bee that managed to wiggle his way arount to my right ear and stung the heck out of me. Quite a challenge maintaining my composure while I made my way over to the right shoulder to get my helmet off. Geez those things burn!

 

Next would have been that dear that bounded in front of me out of nowhere. My face wound up literally 6"s from his hind quarter, but I somehow managed to clear him. Pure luck!

[AZKomet]

In my younger not so intelligent days of riding a bike w/o a w/s I had the large bugs and an occasional dove. Those smarted...however a year ago in Costa Rica I had a full face helmet on and was cruising looking at the beautiful sights and WHAM! A bee or two inside my helmet and those things took care of business! Swollen face and a little concerned about a possible allergic reaction. All was well, but an epi pen was in order after that.

[Stormrider]

I've had my fair share of birds, windshield, helmet, etc. Insects, no bees thank goodness. A couple of grasshoppers have taken a ride on my mirrors for a while.

Animals...Squirell or two and almost a heffer! Came down around a steep corner was already trying to take it easy since there is a lot of farm area around here and there she was right in the middle of a narrow two lane road. I slowed to a stop about 15 feet or so away. Dang thing just sat there an looked at me! I honked, revved, waved my arms....nothing not even a moo! I was even daring enough to move in closer...still nothing. I didn't want her jump either way except for back to the field she came from so I played it as cool as possible for a minute thinking. She wasn't afraid of any noise, engine, horn, me, etc. Ok, what's going to spook this 700-800lbs heffer into moving on?

Remembering a trick my uncle did when he lived in rural PA was to stare the animal down. I flipped up my helmet, leaned forward and the stare down began! At this point I did decide to put my side stand down in case I needed to make a run for it! Luck was in my favor because about 30-40 seconds of my ugly mug staring straight at her made her meander back off into the field.

 

I've always had that kind of affect on women...

[Albert]

My most recent was a pit bull several years ago. I was on my HD dresser in front of 3 other bikes. We were cresting a hill on a rural road. I noticed a group of 4 or 5 people in a yard to my right and almost immediately noticed the dog coming from the group at full tilt. I accelerated about the time the dog entered the road to my right. He made a dive for my right leg (and came damn close), but he failed to note the extremely heavy crash bars that HD has and wound up getting beaned in the head for his trouble. The people behind me said the dog went down and was spinning in circles across the road as they passed.

[dt20]

back in my younger and stupider years i used to ride with shorts. after a bee flew up them and stung me a certain somewhere i never wore shorts riding again! luckily there were a lot of sand driveways which is were I ended up laying the bike down. Most recently i had a close call with a dear so close I could have smacked her on the @$$ and hear the hoofs scrapping asphalt.

[BrianT]

Lots of close calls with animals in the mountains. But for some reason the bugs are the ones I remember.

 

Riding through the desert in Joshua Tree National Park I had my visor cracked open for ventilation. A bee ended up getting sucked up into my helmet through the space between my chin and the front of the helmet. I saw the bee fly up and bounce off of my visor. It must have stunned it because the bee fell down onto the breath guard right in front of my eye. It was still moving, but not much. Scared the hell out of me as I was waiting for this thing to sting me in the eye or nose while riding at 85 mph. I cranked open my visor, turned me head to the side and stuck my head out into the air stream and blew that sucker out before he could get a chance to stick me in the face. Bee's don't normally bother me but looking at one cross eyed, inches in front of my face inside my helmet at 85 mph got my attention.

 

I've had a couple of flys hitch a ride inside my Shoe RF 1000 as well. You know it's got good ventilation in the top vents when you can suck in a fly into the vent and have it buzzing around in your helmet. The first time it happened I thought it was my imagination until I took off my helmet at the next gas stop and watched the fly come buzzing out of it. The second time it happened I could feel it crawling on my head and knew exactly what it was.

 

I've also had some ants hitch a ride. Where I park my bike the garage the ants like to come eat the dead bugs off my bike by crawling up the side stand. One time they found the bugs on my helmet yummy and decided to feast on that as well. Problem was when I left for work that morning it was still night out and in the dark garage I didn't notice the ants on/in the helmet. By the time I hit the driveway I wondered why my head was itchy and had that odd sensation. Pulled off the helmet to see the ant fest. I was very thankful to have been wearing custom molded ear plugs as every bad horror movie involving bugs leaving eggs inside my head flooded me.

[beemerboy]

Chronologically:

 

1972 - Noob rider "Kawasakiboy," future BMWST member, is riding old trail bike when a bee gets stuck in his bonnet, specifically the right side of his JC Penney $19.95 helmet (Dad apprently didn't think my head was worth much money).

 

The aforementioned bee exhibits agitated behavior so being allergic to bee stings Kawasakiboy removes hands from handlebars and attempts to remove helmet as bike motors along.

 

Bad idea. Bee uses its weapon anyway and Kawasakiboy bites the dust, gets up, brushes himself off, and looks into his mirror to watch his head swell up like a basketball. His head is so big he can't put his helmet on. He returns home with helmet strapped to bike, enters the house and watches his mother faint at the sight of his head

 

Fast forward a few months, same bike, same trail. What's this? A stick laying across the trail? No big deal sez Kawasakiboy who rides over the stick.

 

Er, did I say stick? I felt something smacking my boot and look down to see a VERY agitated snake stuck between the engine case and shift lever. I stop the bike and gingerly remove a harmless but seriously PO'd snake and watch him slither off into the brush with a slight kink in his backbone.

 

Next year, new bike (Suzuki TS250), and Suzukiboy (formerly Kawasakiboy) is riding back from his girlfriend's house wearing jeans and a standard button-down shirt. It's a beautiful day, his collar's wide open and the next thing he knows something hits his chest and makes its way up to his collar then down his back.

 

What's this? Buzzing? Oh, $HIT! It's a bee!! This time Suzukiboy knows what not to do and awaits the inevitable.

 

Ouch.

 

Fast forward 29 years and Beemerboy (formerly Kawasaki/Suzuki/Yamaha/Hondaboy) is heading east out of Flagstaff on I40 when he sees a storm approaching. He stops, puts on rain gear and affixes a Compshield to his 3/4 Shoei RJ Platinum helmet. Damn good thing he does this too because not two minutes later he spies a small black dot off to his left, the dot gets big real fast. Before he knows it he feels the impact of some unknown but very large insect. His faceshield looks like it stopped an egg, there's lot of yellow stuff containing small legs and other "stuff" dripping down the face shield and onto his jacket.

 

Yuck, the rain washes it all away though. Lot's of rain. No, make that A LOT OF RAIN.

 

Being as that he's out in the desert southwest though he's dry as a bone in after about 30 miles of riding once the rain stopped.

[Dave_in_TX]

Four months ago, I had a deer jump in my path about a half mile from where I work. I barely had the time to think "Oh s***" before impact. I hit it at 55-60. It wasn't the collision that did me in but I ended up with a severe front end wobble that I wasn't able to get under control. I eventually went down on my left side; ended up with five fractured ribs, a bruised hip, and a badley sprained shoulder. The deer was killed and the bike was totalled. It was two months before I was healthy enough to resume riding.

[ckatopodis]

In the early 70's, riding a Honda CB750, I had a hornet get lodged between the seat and my thigh. Little bastard stung me three times in the thigh before I could stop and get off.

[Albert]

I hadn't thought of bees, here's two.

Riding down the interstate in North Carolina and a bee flies into my ear and stings me inside my ear. OUCH!!

 

Riding along the interstate in Virginia in pouring rain with rain gear firmly buttoned up. Somehow a bee gets into my rainsuit and stings me in the armpit. OUCH!!

[Laura]

Riding in NY State up along the Delaware... large raptor of some sort almost hits me in the head with the fish in his talons as he comes up and over the road from the river below.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Riding in NY State up along the Delaware... large raptor of some sort almost hits me in the head with the fish in his talons as he comes up and over the road from the river below.

 

Try reporting that one to the police:

 

"...I was riding along and I hit a fish..."

[eddd]

While far from life-threatening, I was riding through a county park in Hales Corners, Wisconsin when I encountered a vast swarm of nats. Tried to hold my breath and ride out of them...didn't make it. Ended up snorting and swallowing many nats. Yummy!

[litigator]

I hit a deer and went down on my 1982 naked Goldwing. I slid 75 feet down the pavement. Destroyed my Stich, which I keep hanging near my bikes to remend me to dress right. I would have had a broken elbow, maybe a hip, and God only knows how much road rash. As it was, just two black and blues where the fractures would have been.

 

I also had a bee go up my sleeve and sting me three times on the torso before I could get of the road and open the suit. As stated above, burns like hell.

[mrduck]

How's about two guys riding dirt bikes down outta the local mountains on a trail that's a cliff on one side and the mountain on the other. A rather large rattler sunning itself on the trail so my good buddy decides to give it a kick on his way by. Now I'm looking at a truly pi$$ed large snake all coiled and wanting to strike anything that comes close! So I decided this would be a good time to just shut the bike off and lean into the bank and let Mister Snake alone for a while. It took him awhile but he finally calmed down and went off over the edge,and I on down to my good buddie waiting at the bottom,him thinking that was real funny!

 

Thanks dude

 

[s3steve]

Bugs; I've had a wasp on my eyeglasses on the inside of the lens, less then 1/2" away from my eyeball! All the while I'm down shifting for a red light in traffic. I swore off open faced helmets after that!

 

Birds; I hit a blackbird (not the bike) with my helmet. It would have hit me on the visor but I ducked just in time so it hit on the forehead area.

 

The funnest one was during a group ride, me in the second position on the right side of the lane a pheasant got scared from the first bike, took off when I past and hit my buddy full on in the chest the just about smacked the guy follwing him in the head. No one was hurt, well except for the bird of course. So we carry on, when we stop for lunch some time later my buddy has egg yoke all over the front of his jacket! We still laugh about it today!

[baggerchris]

I've been stung by everything known to man, and hit birds several times, and one time almost hit a horse in Navajo land , but one time in the late 70's my wife and I were invited on a sundown Harley run, but our child was sick and we didn't go. The nice guy who invited us ended up hitting a German Shephard and was killed on that run. We would have been right next to him. Over 150 bikes came to his funeral.

[MrHondamatic]

I almost forgot. First motorcycle, 1979 KZ750, hot and muggy evening, so the wife and I go for a helmetless ride through the countryside to cool off. Riding along about 45 on the nice paved rual road when something soft (of the insect variety and of good size) hits me near my mouth. That in itself was bad enough, but when the soft, gooey insides worked their way past my lips and started tasting bitter, it was time to stop and spit, and spit, and spit, and................

[TyTass]

1984 - Riding from MD to PA one early June evening on my Yamaha Vision, I took a june bug on throttle hand at 85 mph. By the time I pulled into my destination my right hand was swollen twice it's size!

[eddd]

Ever notice how those June bugs curve as the come at you? They can give you a bit of a fat lip too.

[LuckyLeif]

17 years old riding street Hondas with my bud Tom. All of a sudden Tom pulls off the road and I stop next to him seeing tears pouring out of his eyes. (Remember we are teen aged boys, and never show weakness esp crying in public.) I say Wassup? Tom says his nose got hit by a stone and feels like it's on fire. I look at his nostril and see the remnants of a wasp corpse that managed to complete its last defiant act of death to the interior of Tom's nose.... Tom bought a bubble shield shortly thereafter.

[Smoky]

About 1982 was riding my Susuki 650 with wife on the back. She leans up beside me to say something and when she opens her mouth, a june bug hits her in the back of the throat. She's making some interesting sounds as I quickly hustle the bike to a stop. She sputters and spits for a while but nothing comes out. We later stop for ice cream.

 

Last summer I'm riding along the shores of Shuswap Lake on my KLR. Doing about 50 mph and I see a grouse on the side of the road. He's right on the edge of the pavement and moving in circles, I roll off the gas and think "Don't move" just as I'm 20 feet away he launches right up in front of me. I flinch to the left, and he passes between the short windscreen and my right mirror, and hits me in the right shoulder. Big explosion of feathers, didn't hurt much, I turned around but couldn't find anything but feathers. Shoulder was tender for a day or so, but didn't leave a bruise.

 

Had a few close calls with deer.

[Foot]

I was traveling from Ft Wayne In, to the Catskills in NY when I started feeling a little bit tired. So I did my usual routine to revive myself, I flipped the full face shield back to let in a little air and stood up and stretched on the bike. If I didn't yawn in the middle of this stretch I would not have swallowed the Monarch Butterfly. That bug was down my troat before I knew I hit it, wings and all. After a few hard swallows, spitting and gagging, I was able to get most of the debris down.

 

With tears in my eyes I was able to bring the beemer to a stop on the side of the road and get off it. Within seconds of stopping I felt this terrible rumbling in the belly and knew that it was about to erupt.

 

Do you know how hard it is to get a full face helmet off when your about to puke? I got my helmet off right before the projectile vomiting started. I tasted that damn bug for several hundred miles afterward. Lesson learned, always close the face shield before yawning.

 

Alan

[Matts_12GS]

riding with a faceshield open on a friend's yellow cbr900rr I hit a big moth onthe temple of my sun glasses. Yellow junk all down the side of my head.

 

riding the old vulcan one morning along A-1-A near a St. Augustine I disturbed a turkey vulture nibbling on an armadillo (cuz, they're born dead in the middle of the road!) and he took flight right in front of me. I hit him on his back, between the wings with my left grip and he went spinning back and nearly nailed my buddy on his valk behind. No damage to us, no gut spray either. That's just clean living!

[Bill_Walker]

Well, I've rounded a corner to find a bull in the middle of road, deer crossing the road, beavers on the side of the road, and hundreds of seemingly suicidal squirrels dashing partway across the road and then turning back. So far, I've only hit one squirrel that I know of.

 

But no review of motorcycle vs. animal encounters would be complete without this story, from which a brief quote:

 

"As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me. It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road when it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was no time to brake or avoid it—it was that close.

 

I hate to run over animals…and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should pose no danger to me. I barely had time to brace for the impact.

 

Animal lovers, never fear. Squirrels can take care of themselves!"

[flyingreg]

What's your most favorite (or not so favorite) insect or animal encounter/strike story?

 

Did it end with avoidance or impact?

I have, unfortunately, sent too many birds to their graves, too many bugs to count, of all sizes and specie. I once center punched a black cat at about 80 mph, sending each half to opposite sides of the road, that was messy.

 

But the most "exciting" event was several years ago, I was doing a BBG between Bakersfield and New Mexico. I was about 1250 miles into the ride, and had been in the saddle for about 16 hours. It was a little past midnite as I was passing through Blythe, CA on I-10. I was in the No. 1 lane cruising at 75, riding in the left track. I was most likely riding too fast for the dark conditions. Suddenly and without warning, a large Great Dane approached from the median. I had absolutely no time to react, except to scream in my helmet and brace for the collision. At the last millisecond, the dane stopped inches short of crossing my path and I wizzed on by. It took me the next 10 miles to calm down.

[leikam]

A turkey vulture flyby, bees down the collar, june bugs the size of texas, a brown recluse bite at speed (in texas) but the worst so far was clipping a little kitten in a residential neighborhood at about 30mph.

[Husker Red]

Riding in NY State up along the Delaware... large raptor of some sort almost hits me in the head with the fish in his talons as he comes up and over the road from the river below.

 

Try reporting that one to the police:

 

"...I was riding along and I hit a fish..."

 

That reminds me of a strange animal encounter. We almost hit a deer with the boat!

 

Fall of 05 we were going fishing just before dawn and speeding across the lake to get to our favorite fishing hole. Suddenly the guy driving the boat swerves hard - to avoid hitting a deer! A young buck was swimming across the lake and we could just see his head and rack above the waterline. We stopped to watch him swim the remaining 200 yards to shore, where he sat down and rested for a while. He must have swam at least 1/2 mile to cross there. Odd.

[RPG]

Let's see. I've had a Canadian goose attack me while parking at a restaurant. He was protecting his nest in the corner of the lot and I made the mistake of riding right towards him.

 

I've had a few yellow jackets get in my helmet. Once had a bald faced hornet get down my shirt while on my /5. That was interesting AND painful.

 

The worst was hitting that big 10 point Buck out west in '04. Was heading to the Spokane MOA rally and was only about an hour away in northern Idaho. The ABS on the '02 RT saved me as I scrubbed off a lot of speed in 1/4 sec. but I still hit him in the left shoulder.

 

Big mess, had to put the deer down and the bike was totaled, but I walked away with only a sprained wrist. Full face helmet and body armor kept my face and limbs intact.

 

Makes me feel VERY lucky when I heard Larry Grodsky got killed by a deer last year.

 

Rick

[Pat_Da_Geeeze_Donahue]

Many years ago circa 1978 I lived in Ft. Liquordale. Riding my Harley with a 3/4 hat and those pilot sunglasses with the bullseye between the lenses I caught a large juicy palmetto bug dead center in that bullseye. I had foul yellow goo all over my face and down in my eyes. Mind you I was tooling along around 70 mph at the time. Stung like hell too.

 

Tuesday riding in a t-shirt I managed to get a bee down my back which of course stung the hell out of my lower back.

[ScottT]

Florida turkey vulture, full grown... impacted my former 1984 R100RS directly in the headlight glass cover at approximately 90 mph. Results? Bird exploded, or vaporized... there was nothing gross on the bike but there was a small amount of excrement on the left side of the fairing. Fairing around the glass cover was cracked (many small cracks) and half of the plastic windshield rivets blew out. Happened right before my trip to RA and MOA rallies in 1991. Friend lent me his RS headlight cover so I could make the trip. Used screws and bolts to replace the rivets. Why am I still here to talk about it? I mananged to see the bird just in time to tuck in behind the fairing. Wasn't my favorite animal impact but it was the most memorable.

[AndyT]

Was riding with friends in the "HILLS" of Pa with my riding jacket slightly open at the top for more air when a bee flew into my tee shirt and started stinging. I was trying to negotiate some nice twisites and really couldn't do much much but yell and screem in my helmet as I tried to crush the bugger against my stomach. He got me 5 times, Ouach! Good thing I wasn't allegeric! Bugger!

[RevRay]

Encounter this little fellow while worshipping asphalt one sunday morning. Didn't find him hiding until following saturday.

 

 

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[W. Mazelin]

I tagged a small bird on I-15 in the middle Utah several years ago. He was trying to catch some bugs over the roadway and failed to notice the fast approaching GL-1500 I was riding. He impacted the windshield right at the open central vent, bird-brains & other bits came thru and landed all over the center console. The rest of the bird flipped up & over the bike and landed in the roadway directly behind me, a little snack for the first available scavenger. North of Paso Robles, CA I tagged a ground squirrel once, he ran from left-to-right towards the GS, then he turned parallel to my direction of travel, then he turned right - into the path of the rear wheel, scratch one squirrel! The back end sort of squished around a little as he was squished, I looked in the mirror and saw him spinning around on the road. One more scavenger treat!

[ncsonderman]

Many insect fatalities to report, a few requiring me to break out my Epi pen for some relief.

 

Riding in Wyoming near Jackson hole back in 99, I hit a bird dead in the middle of the windshield of my ZX9. As I turned to see the bird tumbling through the air, my buddy caught it in the radiator of his YZF. Ceremonial rites were administered by the roadside.

 

One non fatal, non impact animal encounter that I vividly remember was on CO14 just north of Ft. Collins. I was on my CBR600F2 really getting into a consistent radius left hander when I see a few cattle crossing the road.

I was way to hot to do any significant breaking, so I eased off of the throttle and changed my line for the white line on the outside of the turn. I had just enough space (pulling my knee, shoulder, and elbow in) to shoot passed the large mammal! One whip of his tail and I may have been closelined!

 

I guess I missed the sign stating that there would be open range the first number or miles into the canyon. I always kept a close eye after that.

 

I've been fortunate on many occasions and count my blessings.

[Quinn]

 

 

First, I need to set the stage. It’s the late ‘60s and motorcycles and motorcyclist are not as acceptable as they are today. As a reward to myself for surviving the week, I would go out on my Harley for a ride in the country above Atlanta on Sunday morning and would always end up at a Howard Johnsons in North Atlanta for a late breakfast of buckwheat pancakes. Now to costume the hero. I’m wearing denim jacket and jeans—boot leg jeans to fit over my brown Acme cowboy boots; and I’m looking BAD. I’m a rebel on a black Harley Davidson. The bike is a 250cc Sprint, but that’s not important; it’s a Harley and I’m BAD. I’m not one of those “nicest people on a Honda”. Yeck no, I’m on a black Harley with a five gallon humpback gas tank. I’m dressed in rebel attire, with my aviator shades, painted Bell helmet, Acme boots and imitation Levi jacket. Think James Dean bulked up on steroids. I’m the man with no name and the music from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is playing in the background. Okay, maybe I’m six feet tall and weight about 145lbs soaking wet, but that’s not important either. I walk into the Ho-Jo and people are looking at me. I’m carrying my helmet so there’s no mistaking my Badness. I’m not just dressed for anti-social activities, I’m living the life—the BAD life. As I strut to my seat, with the theme music in the background, oozing machismo from every pore, people are staring at me. I can tell that the women want me and the men fear me. There’s no mistaking the looks of secret lust and hidden envy. I am bad-boy sex personified. All the women are sending those secret signals, offering themselves to me for just one night of passion before I discard them the next morning. All the men are tense with the expectation that I will steal their women. I can tell; I mean, who wouldn’t feel that way just seeing me in that rebel outfit on that black Harley. I sit down in a booth and put the helmet on the table across from me so that late comers can see who has the black Harley in the parking lot and know who this demigod is.

 

 

Then, and only then, do I take off my sunglasses………………And see the bright yellow, monarch butterfly plastered between the lenses that everyone had been staring at since I promenaded in. I put the menu up in front of my face, shrank about 4 inches, and ordered very, very quietly. Suddenly I’m a 19 year old kid, on a 250cc motorcycle, out for a Sunday ride before going home to study for school.

[Flyer5]

Well, I've rounded a corner to find a bull in the middle of road, deer crossing the road, beavers on the side of the road, and hundreds of seemingly suicidal squirrels dashing partway across the road and then turning back. So far, I've only hit one squirrel that I know of.

 

But no review of motorcycle vs. animal encounters would be complete without this story, from which a brief quote:

 

"As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me. It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road when it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was no time to brake or avoid it—it was that close.

 

I hate to run over animals…and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should pose no danger to me. I barely had time to brace for the impact.

 

Animal lovers, never fear. Squirrels can take care of themselves!"

 

 

 

Birds ,rabbits ,squirrels and insects . Although after those Geico commercials in the last couple of years where the squirrels hi five each other after making a car swerve off the road ,I have a hard time feeling sorry for the lil buggers . Dave