Reed's Rat Race

A few years ago, my good friend Rikki introduced me to these confectionery delights.  Bless her for enriching our lives with things that make our taste buds dance in pleasure, but curse her because they are hard to get!  Why oh why do they only sell them in the West?  What have we Southerners done to deserve this kind of discrimination! They make me oh so happy (the chocolate covered ones are hella good too!)!  I gotta go now, they are beckoning me to join their party! P.S. Thanks Rikki for sending this package!

The short story is: don't get me started on people that let their stupid dogs run free all over town and countryside. The long story is this: Riding to work Thursday morning.  6:50am. . .just like usual.  Riding along a rural county road, I crested a small hill at about 55mph and saw a dog running across the street.  I slowed some to make sure it wouldn't double back and then out of the corner of my eye, a second dog, a yellow lab I think, runs right out in front of me.  I had no time to avoid or brake any more.  I hit the dog squarely in the gut but I was angled just a bit.  I felt the impact and the bars jerked violently to the left, sending me and the bike hard over the right side.  At impact, I heard the dog yelp and then I heard the horrible sound of bike on pavement. I slid head first across the opposite lane into a grassy ditch.  When I stopped, I lay there for a second wiggling stuff and making sure my neck felt okay.  I could fee...