On the first day of our rough-riders adventure, I was cruising along, thinking of how I'd be able to brag about this for years. Suddenly I hit a patch of deep sand and a buried rock. The fall after the pride. When I tried to lift my left arm, pain shot through it, and the lower half swung the wrong way. Five hours later, x-rays revealed a severe dislocation.
Doctors reset the elbow and put it in a cast for four weeks.
My trip was over. When I was a kid, my mother told me not to leave the house wearing dirty underwear, in case I got in an accident. Well, my luggage had been lost on the way to Chile, so I'd been wearing the same underwear for three days. It had taken many years, but Mom's dire prediction had finally come true. Mom, you were right after all.