I almost hit an alligator this morning

[texscottyd]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

FM762 at Brazos Bend SP is the only twisties we get around here. It is my preferred drive when want to just get on the bike for no reason. Texas Hill Country is over 4 hours away. (insert sad face)

There are a few others around, but your point is 100% valid:  This area isn't exactly overflowing with great riding.   West and north are your best options, but that makes it a longer trip.   I'm on the southwest side, so the Crabb River Road, Power Plant, and CR 42 loop is something I can sneak in during a long lunch hour.   I started riding FM762 back in the late 80's, so I'm happy to see that it's still mostly intact...    

[Skidood]

20 hours ago, texscottyd said:

I actually have hit a deer.   One Star:  Do not recommend.  😉

I know someone who hit a deer on his bike doing 55 MPH, he spent 3 weeks in the hospital.

[texscottyd]

11 hours ago, Skidood said:

I know someone who hit a deer on his bike doing 55 MPH, he spent 3 weeks in the hospital.

It’s honestly the scariest thing that has ever happened to me on a motorcycle, since it came totally out of nowhere.  I hit a medium-sized doe dead center, going close to 70 mph on my VFR, and it basically split to the deer in half.  I managed to get the bike slowed down to maybe 15 or 20 mph before toppling over in the ditch.  In the grand scheme of things, I was very lucky:  Dislocated right wrist, cracked sternum, and a massive bruise (shaped like a deer’s hindquarters) that covered my entire upper chest.  We still wonder how it didn’t just clean me straight off the bike on initial impact. 

[knyte]

cringes

Wildlife is my BIGGEST fear, above all else - easily the most unpredictable hazard out there, imho.

[betoney]

12 hours ago, Skidood said:

I know someone who hit a deer on his bike doing 55 MPH, he spent 3 weeks in the hospital.

 

1 hour ago, texscottyd said:

It’s honestly the scariest thing that has ever happened to me on a motorcycle, since it came totally out of nowhere.  I hit a medium-sized doe dead center, going close to 70 mph on my VFR, and it basically split to the deer in half.  I managed to get the bike slowed down to maybe 15 or 20 mph before toppling over in the ditch.  In the grand scheme of things, I was very lucky:  Dislocated right wrist, cracked sternum, and a massive bruise (shaped like a deer’s hindquarters) that covered my entire upper chest.  We still wonder how it didn’t just clean me straight off the bike on initial impact. 

I too hit a deer on a country road at around 60 mph, the bike was totaled but I was able to walk away with just scrapes and bruising.  The scariest part of the incident is when I hit the pavement I slid on my side and chest across the oncoming lane, the bike and I ended up in the ditch on the opposite side of the road.  So fortunate that there was no traffic when it happened.

[Brian]

23 hours ago, texscottyd said:

There are a few others around, but your point is 100% valid:  This area isn't exactly overflowing with great riding.   West and north are your best options, but that makes it a longer trip.   I'm on the southwest side, so the Crabb River Road, Power Plant, and CR 42 loop is something I can sneak in during a long lunch hour.   I started riding FM762 back in the late 80's, so I'm happy to see that it's still mostly intact...    

Yes. And thanks for the trip log. Instead of my 288 to 1462 to 762 ride, I have added FM42/prison and powerplant by the lake detours.

[BBB]

It’s tough here in the UK as well you know. Never mind your alligators and deer, we have sheep!  Mindless, wooly blobs that stand in the middle of desolate, single track roads, normally just around blind bends. They give a mean stare I tell you. 

And pigeons! I headbutted one in flight two years ago, that veered into me. Despite ducking it hit me on the front/side of the helmet and that was quite alarming.

Don't even get me started on bumblebees..

[2and3cylinders]

6 hours ago, BBB said:

It’s tough here in the UK as well you know. Never mind your alligators and deer, we have sheep!  Mindless, wooly blobs that stand in the middle of desolate, single track roads, normally just around blind bends. They give a mean stare I tell you. 

And pigeons! I headbutted one in flight two years ago, that veered into me. Despite ducking it hit me on the front/side of the helmet and that was quite alarming.

Don't even get me started on bumblebees..

Sheep, meh, try American Bison, Elk and Moose!

I've been hit by a Greater Sandhill Crane in SE Wisconsin while on my FJ-09.  It took off from a ditch struggling to get airborne as it crossed the road I was accelerating down.  It looked like a prehistoric Pterodactyl in flight, with a length of about 5 feet and a 6 foot wing span, and weighed around 10 pounds.  I was doing about 60 mph when we impacted.  Poor thing took its last breath on the road behind me after our encounter.  Nothing I could do other than to try to stay upright and duck.  It glanced off my Givi Tour shield and hit the left mirror, spinning it around so that its extender busted the rocker switch on the left switch pod.  I was happy that was the extent of it.  Crane strikes on airplanes can be catastrophic.

I once was hit by a 3 pound Swainson's Hawk head-on while doing over 70 mph.  It exploded into a cloud of feathers and guts when it hit my right shoulder.  Almost knocked me off the bike and besides a mess, left a large black and blue bruise.  And I was wearing a heavy leather motorcycle jacket.  It seems birds often seem to TRY to take me out.  I scan the sky as well as the road ahead, and instinctively duck when a bird swoops down anywhere near me.  Don't know what I ever did to deserve these Kamikaze attacks.

Deer here are joined on the road by raccoons, wild turkey, possum, squirrels, snakes, turtles, dogs, cats and the occasional delusional cow.  Farmers often leave large tracks of mud and yuck on the road, and think nothing of hogging the entire road driving their combine or whatever from field to field.

[texscottyd]

22 hours ago, Brian said:

Yes. And thanks for the trip log. Instead of my 288 to 1462 to 762 ride, I have added FM42/prison and powerplant by the lake detours.

If you’re coming south down 288, head west on CR 64 or 62, and zigzag over to the prison on 521.  Then CR 42 west from Sandy Point is a really nice ride… WAY better than droning across 1462.   The alligator encounter was on the west end of CR 42, where it runs right along the Brazos.  

A slight detour when you’re making the power plant loop around Smithers Lake will put you in Booth, where I highly recommend a lunch stop at The Flying Cow:  

https://www.theflyingcow.us/

[Paladins31]

All my years of riding in Florida and I've never come across a gator on the bike.  Golf course... yes.  My yard... yes.  I have, however, encountered many Gator fans though.

[DavidS]

I posted this incident several years ago, but it bears repeating. I was riding into work at about 5:00am on I90 freeway in the eastern portion of Seattle and I spotted something stopped on the highway in front of me.  I slowed down and saw fairly quickly it was a deer just standing in the middle of the road. I checked behind me to ensure no car was going to hit me from behind, but luckily there was no traffic that early in the morning. I must have stayed looking face to face with that deer for 4 or 5 minutes before it decided to move off the road into a grassy area dividing the east and west bound lanes. 

I carefully started going again, looking in the direction of the deer headed in case it decided to turn around and chase me, but it was too busy eating leaves from the shrubbery/trees in the median of the highway. 

Weirdest animal encounter ever, but neither of us was hurt, and I still made it to work on time. Just goes to show you that you always have to expect the unexpected when riding motorcycles.

[Therealal]

Poor form. When I'm riding with my daughter we always stop for a photo opportunity with the local wildlife.

[2and3cylinders]

Ok I looked up 

Dar al-Harb means 'house of war' and refers to the dominion of war around the world. Generally, it refers to any place that Islam cannot be practiced without persecution. It also refers to a country that is not under Islamic rule, and is thus not amenable to the majority of its inhabitants practicing Islam.Oct 11, 2007

https://www.brown.edu › courses › i...

Dar al-Islam/Dar al-Harb 

So I'll bite

Where do you live wiere big constrictors make nice?

I have my suspensions...

[texscottyd]

8 hours ago, Therealal said:

Poor form. When I'm riding with my daughter we always stop for a photo opportunity with the local wildlife.

That’s a big one!   We classify the snakes here as ‘friendly’ (rat snakes, broad-banded water snakes, assorted grass & ribbon snakes), and ‘not-so-friendly’ (copperheads, corals, and northern cottonmouths).   

But even the ‘friendly’ ones I’m not up for playing with… 
 

[Therealal]

On 7/8/2022 at 6:29 PM, 2and3cylinders said:

So I'll bite

Where do you live wiere big constrictors make nice?

I have my suspensions...

Australia. Near Sydney. That's a diamond python. They're very chill.

The photo is a set-up, the snake was my brother's pet. He picked it up off the road years ago, because they're very chill.