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Thursday, April 15, 2004 5:11 PM CDT

It all starting to come together

All of Vladimir’s pieces seem to be glued back together pretty well now, and all the rest of the pieces are starting to fall into place for him to resume his attempt at driving around the world.

I wish you could have been in the front yard of Paul Klopfenstein’s home in Morton, Ill., early last Saturday morning. The rising sun was just starting to shine on the yellow gas tank of Vladimir’s new BMW parked in front of the garage. Vladimir had just started walking laps around Paul’s huge driveway last week without a cane. On Saturday morning he was out there without his cane again, but this time, he broke into a run and cruised around the circle.

I’m telling ya, I heard the theme music from “Chariots of Fire.”

The other big accomplishment this week is that we arranged to get a license plate and title for the new BMW. This was pretty complicated and we thought this could really hold up his travels. On Saturday, at the open house up at Tag Sport, he’s going to get his new helmet, boots, gloves and riding suit. He’s really getting close, and then our work here will be done.

As a reminder, all of you are welcome to stop by at a send-off party that will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 17, at Tag Sport, a motorcycle dealership located in Geneva, a suburb west of Chicago. There’s a map how to get there at http://www.tagsport.com/. Vladimir might not be there exactly at 9 a.m., but we hope by 10, anyway.

Rick Martin is going to drive Vladimir and the bike up there in a pickup.

There was a really nice story about Vladimir, and the work of the Illinois Vladimir Pit Crew, in the Peoria Journal Star.

In case the link doesn’t work, I’ll just copy and paste the story below. At the very bottom I’ll also put the link to the story, but it’s hard to say how long the link lasts.

Meanwhile, hope to see some of you in Geneva Saturday. You can always leave a note to Vladimir on the message board on this CaringBridge site.

Jim Winterer
-----------------------

Ready to roll

A silent foreign globetrotter finds many kindred souls who help him recuperate after near-fatal I-74 accident

April 15, 2004

By Phil Luciano
pluciano@pjstar.com

Six months ago, a motorcycle wreck crumpled Vladimir Yarets into a pile of broken bones. Now he's almost ready to roll again.

Thanks to the endless kindness of central Illinois and beyond, the Russian national soon will continue his quest to become the first deaf-mute to ride a motorcycle through every country on Earth.

"If you're going to get yourself run over by a truck, then do it somewhere around Peoria," says one of Yarets' many benefactors, Jim Winterer of Minnesota, who has helped coordinate Yarets' recovery.

At a send-off party this Saturday, Yarets, 63, will receive a donated motorcyle to replace his destroyed Russian model. By the end of April, Yarets plans to shake off any lingering stiffness and head to Mexico.

"He's just gonna go on a wing and a prayer, and make it up as he goes," says Winterer, 54.

Yarets, who reads no English, communicates through makeshift gestures. With little cash, he depends on the generosity of strangers - mostly fellow motorcycle enthusiasts, like Winterer - to put him up and keep him fed.

Three years ago, Yarets (who lost his hearing as a tot when a Nazi bomb exploded outside his home in Minsk) began vrooming his '80s-vintage Jawa 350 throughout Europe. He scraped together enough money to ship his bike to North America, where he toured much of Canada and all 50 United States.

Along the way, the affable foreigner forged friendships with fellow riders, many of whom would track Yarets' trek on Internet message boards. But after 69,000 miles and 29 countries, the trip suddenly stopped in central Illinois.

Early on the evening of Oct. 13, Yarets departed Urbana and headed west on Interstate 74. For reasons Yarets cannot exactly remember, he stopped in the right lane near LeRoy, east of Bloomington. A westbound rig blasted into the back of the motorcycle, flinging Yarets into the air and onto the grassy roadside.

At OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, X-rays found extensive factures in his legs, pelvis and arm. The hospital called in interpreters, who worked together to help doctors talk to Yarets through a bit of Russian writing, a touch of American Sign Language and plenty of extemporaneous pantomime.

In Minnesota, Winterer caught wind of the accident and immediately started a Web page updating Yarets' condition. Well-wishing bikers, self-dubbed the Vladimir Pit Crew, streamed into Yarets' hospital room. Many had no way to communicate except to offer a handshake, each of which Yarets received enthusiastically.

After 50 days of bone-mending in St. Francis, Yarets transferred to OSF St. Clare Home in Chillicothe for three months of painful rehabilitation. OSF did not charge him for his care.

In late February, Yarets moved into the rural Morton home of Paul Klopfenstein, 56, a St. Francis compliance manager who owns a pair of BMW bikes. To interact with Yarets, Klopfenstein tried gestures.

"Someone asked if it was like sign language - mime language is more like it," Klopfenstein says. "It's like playing charades. ... Occasionally, you understand, or act like you understand."

At Klopfenstein's farmhouse, Yarets has alternately rested and rehabbed. This week, through Dimitry Volkov, an interpreter for Caterpillar Translation Services, Yarets described his condition in typical hodgepodge fashion:

"I fell bad. Chilly. Never hot. No sweat. Pale face. Not healthy. Need warmth, hot, sweat, red face."

Still, he has made significant strides. Weeks ago, to exercise he'd repeatedly hobble with a cane around Klopfestein's long driveway. Last Saturday, though, Yarets managed to circle the driveway on two legs, his speed increasing with each lap.

"He's not perfect, but he's getting there," says Winterer, who visited the farmhouse to observe Yarets' progress.

Meanwhile, news of Yarets' struggles - including the loss of his Jawa - reached Tag Sport, a BMW dealership in Geneva, west of Chicago. The shop decided to give a slightly used BMW 650 GS worth about $7,000.

To keep Yarets riding smoothly, Tag Sport added a travel pack and super-bright tail lights. Caterpillar Translation Services has been painstakingly rewriting the BMW owner's manual into Russian. And this week, the bike arrived in central Illinois for customizing, including the lowering of the frame to fit Yarets' squat physique.

This Saturday, though, the motorcycle will be back at Tag Sport, where supporters from central Illinois and elsewhere will wish Yarets bon voyage.

"He's really, really pleased," Winterer says. "He really appreciates it. ... He can't pay anyone back. He can't even say thank you, because he can't talk. But you can see it on his face."

Soon, Yarets plans to jump aboard the BMW and motor south. From Mexico, he'll zip throughout South America, then head overseas to visit more countries. He estimates finishing the trip in three years, then returning to Minsk.

Winterer realizes that after Saturday, he likely won't see his Russian buddy for at least several years. Still, Winterer says he won't really need to say goodbye.

"He'll figure out a way to keep in touch with us," Winterer says.

Contact Phil Luciano, at pluciano@pjstar.com, (309) 686-3155 or (800) 225-5757, Ext. 3155.

The link to this story is: http://www.pjstar.com/news/luciano/b2o7sfqq033.html

Thursday, April 8, 2004 11:24 AM CDT

Here's a very welcome update to post today. This is an announcement about Vladimir's send-off party.

He's still making progress and continues to have some lingering medical problems, but it looks like it will simply take time before all his injuries are healed. Meanwhile, though, the doctors have pronounced him ready to hit the road. This is no small accomplishment, and a huge THANK YOU to all who have written to Vladimir and helped him in so many ways.

Here's the announcement:

Vladimir Send-Off April 17, You’re Invited!

It’s been nearly seven months since Belorussian motorcylist Vladimir Yarets regained consciousness in a Peoria hospital and wondered what the heck hit him.

As you might recall, what hit him on Oct. 13 was a semi on I-74 east of Peoria. The impact sent him flying and very nearly killed him. He was found in the ditch with many broken bones and a huge bump on the head. The truck, which jackknifed and flipped, squashed and killed Vladimir’s beat up Jawa 350 that he was using on his world-record attempt to be the first deaf and mute motorcyclist to ride around the world.

It has been a painful, long recovery, but Vladimir is probably the toughest (and most stubborn) 63-year-old you’d ever meet, and he’s ready to continue his attempt at the world record. He’ll probably need to find a spot on his new bike for the cane he still needs, but for anyone who has seen pictures of how he packed that old Jawa, that shouldn’t be a problem.

All of you are welcome to stop by at a send-off party that will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 17, at Tag Sport, a motorcycle dealership located in Geneva, a suburb west of Chicago. There’s a map how to get there at http://www.tagsport.com/. It won’t exactly be a ride to eat, but Bill Kautz, owner of Tag Sport, will have refreshments as the send-off coincides with a BMW open house that day.

We could do a triple-Zulaski account here about how many people have helped Vladimir since last October; most of them are motorcyclists, and most are from Illinois. If you are ever going to get yourself run over by a truck, Illinois is the place to do it. Hats off (or helmets off) to the good Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, who run the hospital where Vladimir spent 50 days, as well as the nursing home where he spent three months in rehab. They gave him the best care you could find anywhere in this country, and it was their gift to him.

And as Bill Kautz puts it, it’s the employees and customers of Tag Sport who are giving Vladimir a pristine BMW-650 GS to continue his journey. Bill also installed long-distance goodies on the 650 that include a lowering kit and center stand, full set of Givi bags, and a super-bright tail-light system (good idea!). BMW is giving Vladimir new riding gear to replace the stuff that was cut off him in the operating room.

There are dozens and dozens of people who have stepped forward in one way or another to lend Vladimir a hand over the past months. The core group have become known as the Vladimir Pit Crew, and they include doctors, nurses, social workers, translators, lawyers and especially motorcyclists. It was pretty amazing to see how they worked together to glue Vladimir back together and help get him back on the road.

Vladimir is about half-way through his trip, which so far has taken him through 29 countries and all 50 states. From here he heads to the bottom of South America, where he’ll catch a ride to Australia. Eventually, he’ll wind his way through Asia, Africa and finally back home to Belarus.

You can stop by and wish him well on April 17, or you can mail him a good-luck note to the home of Paul Klopfenstein (where he’s currently staying but not for long) at 1600 E. Jefferson St., Morton, IL 61550-9355, or you can leave him a message on the Caring Bridge Web site at http://www.caringbridge.org/il/vladimir/.

Thursday, March 4, 2004 6:20 PM CST

THE NEWS WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

By far the biggest news of the week came Thursday afternoon, March 4, from Vladimir Pit Crew member Tom Breedlove who took our favorite Belorussian in for his final doctor’s checkup.

Tom didn’t get to talk to the doctor directly, but he talked to the nurse, who proclaimed that Dr. Zussman has declared Vladimir to be healed and could once again start riding his motorcycle. Yikes.

(If this was a movie, this is where they’d start playing some dramatic, joyful music. Since this is just writing, I suggest you start humming a little Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony.)

Realistically, of course, it will be some weeks before he’ll swing his leg over a motorcycle and fire it up. While Vladimir can walk, he still relies a lot on his cane, and if there’s much distance involved, a wheelchair is still handy if you can find one.

He still has some pain, especially in his hips, but his progress now is both rapid and astounding. Anyone who saw him flat on his back in Peoria last fall would be totally amazed to see Vladimir back on his feet.

Even Vladimir knows he is not ready for anything too vigorous, but it’s just a matter of time. We have “hand-squeezing” contests to check the strength of his clutch (left) hand.

This hand was attached to the arm that was broken in a couple of spots, and the muscles simply withered. They are coming back though, with lots of foam-football squeezing, and he’s close to being able to work the clutch lever on the BMW.

We are still guessing mid-April for a departure date, but we’re flexible too. That is a key for dealing with all things related to Vladimir … stay flexible.

The good folks at Tag Sport are still outfitting the F-650 they are giving him, and we’ve got some interesting registration red tape to figure out. The goal is to get the paperwork just as clean and rock-solid as possible so there won’t be any hassles as he crosses the umpteen international borders that lie down his road.

Vladimir’s first stop after leaving the St. Clare Home on Feb. 21 was the home of Tom and Lori Breedlove in Heyworth, a little south of Bloomington. He settled right in and became great friends with Bob, the Breedlove’s big dog.

Be sure to check the pictures section on this Web site. You’ll see a photo of Bob waking up Vladimir on Sunday morning. This almost looks like a staged picture, but Tom told Bob to wake up Vladimir and Bob went right in and started licking the V-man’s face.

We had to get Vladmir up because Sunday was his day to move to Paul Kopfenstein’s home just outside of Morton. Before we loaded things up for the move, though, we had some errands in Bloomington. Rick Martin and Sharm and Vladimir and I took the back roads to show him the Woody’s restaurant parking lot where witnesses saw him tinkering with his Jawa on Oct. 13, shortly before his accident. As we circled through the parking lot, he couldn’t recall being there.

Then we drove out on I-74 and slowed down at the spot where the semi truck hit him. There’s still some ugly skid marks in the grass, left by the truck after it jackknifed and rolled over.

This was the first time Vladimir saw the accident site; he was kind of quiet, but otherwise seemed fine. We think he appreciated the chance to see where it happened. As you might recall, he had trouble, early on, comprehending that a truck had hit him, because he still has no memory of the crash.

After a great lunch at the Breedloves, it was time to pack and go. As usual, trying to get Vladimir and his stuff rounded up was a lot like herding cats. Those who were there will know what I mean.

Just as we were pulling out of the driveway, he made his “pup pup pup pup pup” noises and waved dramatically to stop the car. We had forgotten his tooth brush for the crying out loud.

Anyway, we filled up a good part of my Pathfinder and much of the back of Rick Martin’s Chevy pickup with Vladimir’s belongings. Somehow he managed to pack all that stuff on his Jawa. I did actually see the whole works loaded on his bike last September back in Minnesota, but it’s still hard to comprehend how he did it.

He’s going to have his hands full figuring out how to pack everything on the new F-650, and he knows it’s time to leave a few things behind.

With several motorcyclists along as official escorts, the Vladimir Pit Crew caravan drove from Heyworth to Paul’s house near Morton.

Whew, the Belorussian got lucky again. Paul has an amazing, large old farm house with tons of room, exercise gear, pool table, and a very nice refrigerator. Paul and his friend Betty put on a great meal for the Pit Crew and a merry time was had by all (some people had TWO pieces of lemon cake for dessert).

Vladimir soon discovered that Paul’s big pool table makes a great place to spread out his maps. I’d bet Paul could spread out a few maps of his own; he’s been a long-distance rider for years and I noticed some very cool trophies on the wall to prove it.

So that’s the news from Illinois this week. It’s hard to keep up with this guy now (not to mention his toothbrush) but stay tuned and we’ll try to do our best.

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Wednesday, February 25, 2004 9:48 PM CST

Vladimir took another giant step toward his goal of resuming his trek around the world last weekend. Actually, he’s been taking lots of giant steps, because he’s getting around pretty well now without his wheelchair.

Following a farewell celebration Saturday, Feb. 21, at the St. Clare Home, where Vladimir has been rehabilitating his broken bones since his transfer there from the hospital last November, he loaded up his personal belongings and headed for the Heyworth, Ill., home of Tom and Lori Breedlove.

Rick Martin, meanwhile, gathered up the rest of Vladimir’s things (except the Jawa, which isn’t too easy to gather up) from storage and trucked them up to the Breedlove home. As you could imagine, it was good for Vladimir just to have all of his old stuff again. He’s been sorting and organizing it in preparation for hitting the road again, which might happen in mid-April, depending on how everything goes.

He will stay with the Breedloves for a little while before moving to the home another member of the Illinois-based Vladimir Pit Crew, which is what we call the many volunteers who have been helping him in a million ways since the accident Oct. 13.

Tom and Lori have been helping him organize the medications that he still has to take. They also took him grocery shopping, and Vladimir picked out some of his all-time favorites: smoked ham, sour cream, cottage cheese and pickles. Tom took Vladimir shopping for some fleece shirts and pants. These are some of the best friends a long-distance motorcyclist can have, next to the wonderful folks from Illinois, including everyone at St. Francis Hospital and its affiliated St. Clare Home.

The send-off party at St. Clare was complete with a banner written in Russian. We didn’t get the exact translation, but whatever it said, Vladimir loved it. He also loved the big cake with a picture of Vladimir and his new motorcycle on top. Talk about frosting on the cake!

For many months, we had pictures of Vladimir in the hospital on this Web site. Now we have some new pictures. Just click on the photo button and you'll see one of him at his send-off party, one of his cake and banner, and one of him standing next to his new motorcycle. These are definitely better to look at than him flat on his back in the hospital.

Tom said that when they went shopping for the pants and shirts, they forgot to load the wheelchair. When they noticed the missing wheels, Tom offered to go back, but Vladimir said he’d be fine with his cane. And he was. To see someone walking around after having so many broken bones just months ago is amazing. Vladimir continues to work hard on his physical therapy.

Vladimir will be at the Breedloves for just a short while longer. Their address is: 306 W. Poplar, Heyworth IL. 61745. If you mail something to him there, better make it quick. We’ll have another address soon. It won’t work to send things to the St. Clare Home any longer. Oh, the Breedlove’s e-mail address is: thomaz900cc@yahoo.com.

We’ll keep you posted. And we are planning at least one, and maybe two, send-off parties for Vladimir in the spring. We’d love to have you come.

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Thursday, February 12, 2004 6:00 PM CST

Lots of news this week – all good. We’re getting there, thanks to lots of helpers coupled with Vladimir’s hard work and determination to get better.

First of all, Vladimir’s trip to the international motorcycle show in Chicago couldn’t have gone better. Our Russian friend was in heaven. Tom Breedlove picked Vladimir up at the Peoria nursing home very early Saturday, checked him out, and they boarded a bus chartered by Grayboy Motor Sports of Peoria Heights (thanks to the gang at Grayboy for providing Vladimir with the ride, meals and even the ticket to the show.)

After they arrived, Tom, Vladimir, Rick Martin and Kerry Willey toured the massive array of new bikes on display, but when they got to the BMW display area, that’s when Vladimir launched into a nonstop smile. That’s where he saw, for the first time, the gleaming black and yellow BMW 650-GS that will carry him around the rest of the world.

Just re-discovering his legs again, Vladimir got out of his wheelchair and walked over to his new bike and climbed on board. He really, really liked it, and in his own way thanked Bill Kautz, owner of Tag Sport, located in a western suburb of Chicago. Bill had read about Vladimir in a Chicago Tribune story by Russell Working. After talking about Vladimir’s situation with Jerry Noterra, a BMW area manager, Bill and his employees offered the bike so the Belarussian could continue his trip. Tag Sport also is setting up the bike with large, aluminum saddle bags and other goodies so it will be a perfect world traveler. This was the first time Vladimir and Bill had a chance to meet.

The bike was nicely displayed and this sign explained things to the tens of thousands who attended the show:

“It is with much admiration that Tag Sport BMW in Geneva, Ill., presents this F650GS to Vladimir Yarets. It will replace the Jawa 350 that was destroyed in a devastating accident last fall in southern Illinois. Vladimir suffered a shattered pelvis and broken bones from his left elbow to his shins.

“Yarets, a Belarussian, who cannot hear, logged over 69,000 miles in 29 countries on his way to a record-setting world tour.

“Tag Sport and its customers want to acknowledge Vladimir’s brave and adventurous spirit and wish him well on his continuing journey this spring on his new BMW.”

Not only did Vladimir get a chance to try on the 650 for size, but he got to try on an entire new riding outfit that BMW is giving him: a jacket, riding pants and boots. Whoo-boy, did the V-man look sharp. Most of Vladimir’s clothing was cut off of him (as well as his bushy beard) back in the hospital emergency room on the day of the accident. We have a new picture loaded on the Caring Bridge Web site. You will see Vladimir and his new bike, and he’s wearing a favorite blue vest. Look close and you can see how Vladimir sewed his vest back together again.

Vladimir attracted quite a crowd at the bike show. Many had read or heard about him and wanted to meet him and shake his hand. Some had met him earlier in his adventure, like Mark Kiecker who met Vladimir in August back at the Iron Butt Rally in Montana. Mark had visited Vladimir shortly after the Oct. 13 accident when he was in a great deal of pain and not quite aware of what was going on. Mark was completely amazed at the transformation. And it was a transformation, considering that the doctors weren’t sure back then if Vladimir was going to live or not.

Some of the Russian motorcycle riders from Chicago stopped by at the show, including Gene Meltser, an attorney who has been helping Vladimir these last few months. Gene helped with more than legal advice on Saturday; he pulled out his cell phone and called Vladimir’s sons back in Belarus. Gene did the talking, in Russian, and wrote down the questions and answers between the father and son.

Adding to the excitement at the show were the tv cameras. Tom McIntyre, another member of Vladimir’s pit crew, is a television news anchor in Peoria in his other life. He prepared a great piece that brought viewers in the Peoria area up to date with Vladimir’s progress.

OK, now for some more good news. Missy, who was Vladimir’s nurse when he was at the St. Francis Hospital (and who now is a key member of his trusty pit crew) said that the hospital and nursing home folks feel that Vladimir has recovered enough so that he can move out of the nursing home and continue his rehabilitation elsewhere until he’s well enough to climb aboard that BMW and head for South America.

We have several generous offers from folks in Illinois who could give Vladimir a place to stay for the next couple of months. Nothing has been decided yet, including the date Vladimir will move out of the nursing home, but it will be sooner rather than later.

Sometimes it seems there should be an ending to these little reports, but this is one of those stories we’re still in the middle of. Stay tuned.

Jim Winterer

Tuesday, February 3, 2004 4:03 PM CST

Vladimir had been looking at the Sunday, Feb. 1, date on his calendar for some time. As if he needed a reminder. It would be his first venture outdoors since his Oct. 13 tangle with a truck on an Illinois interstate.

It was a little nippy early Sunday so we bundled him in layers of fleece and a borrowed down parka, signed him out at the St. Clare home’s nursing station, and wheeled him out to the car. Vladimir can take just a couple of steps on his own, now, and he’s scooting around pretty well with a walker, but we took the wheelchair to be on the safe side.

Vladimir, I learned, is quite a back-seat driver, even when he’s in the front seat. He was sure I was going too fast around corners and we’d spin out, or I was going too close to the cars ahead of me, but maybe that’s to be expected when you haven’t ridden in anything faster than a wheelchair for about four months.

Once we found our pace on the freeway for the hour-long ride from Peoria to Bloomington, Ill., he settled back and clearly enjoyed the trip, looking out at the snowy Illinois cornfields, a barge stuck in the ice on the river, and just about everything that was different from the four walls he has been staring at in the hospital and nursing home.

I had to tell him to shut up as we got off the freeway and headed through town to our destination. It’s really hard to watch the traffic and street signs, and watch Vladimir’s gestures as he tries to explain things with his hands. He quickly understood why I couldn’t listen to his hands, and settled down.

Our destination was the Motorcycle Safety Program headquarters at Illinois State University where Kerry Willey found a spot in a storage trailer for Vladimir’s smashed Jawa.

We pulled up and while I was digging out the wheelchair, Vladimir already was out of the car and heading to the storage shed. We plopped him in the chair anyway and plowed through a little snowbank. When we got to the door of the shed, he got up and hobbled over to his bike. The motorcycle he had lived with for years, that carried him half-way around the world, laid there on its side all bent and twisted and smashed. It was a mess, just like Vladimir was last October.

Vladimir is on the mend, of course, but there will be no mending the Jawa. It’s just too far gone. He can’t stand the thought of leaving it behind, though, and he wants us to “mail” it back to Belarus. (Later, he told Rick Martin and I that maybe he would put it on display in Belarus. Well, we think that’s what he was talking about. Maybe not.)

After spending some quiet moments in the shed, we went over to a heated building where Vladimir went through all his packs and gear that are being stored with his Jawa.

Those big Igloo coolers he used for waterproof saddlebags were pretty beat up and cracked, but they weren’t totally destroyed either. He went through bag after bag of all the stuff he had been hauling along on the trip.

He was overjoyed to find two things. One was a pair of his new “camo” pants (his other pair were cut off of him at the hospital emergency room on Oct. 13) , and the other was a bottle of some kind of smelling salts that we could all smell the moment he took the top off the bottle. He was telling us about this bottle weeks ago, but we couldn’t find it, and we weren’t sure what we were looking for, anyway. He sure likes smelling the stuff and took a few sniffs of it in the car on the way home.

But Vladimir was REALLY bummed to learn that a long-distance lens to his camera was totally smashed in the accident. When we finally got him to understand that the lens was long gone in the trash, he went into a funk that lasted several minutes. Maybe it was the last straw. It’s hard to offer encouraging words to someone who can’t hear you in the first place, and so all of us felt bad too. I think maybe it dawned on him that he was lucky to be alive enough to feel bad, and eventually he bounced back to his usual good humor.

On the way home, Rick Martin and Vladimir and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel so Vladimir could have some non-nursing home food. It was a little busy, so we spent the 20 minutes waiting for a table by poking around the gift shop. Rick and I were nervous wrecks within five minutes as Vladimir scooted around the narrow aisles, nearly knocking down pricey trinkets at every turn. Somehow, though, he managed to squeak by everything and nothing was broken.

So the first outing was a clear success and a good warm-up for his next big adventure. Really early on Saturday morning, Feb. 7, Tom Breedlove is going to swing by the St. Clare Home and bring Vladimir up to Grayboy Motor Sports in Peoria where they will board a comfy tour bus and head for the huge international motorcycle show in Chicago. On the ride up there, they will stop for breakfast in Pontiac where they will pick up Rick Martin.

At the show, the plan is to meet Bill Kautz of Tag Sport of the Chicago area who (along with his employees) is giving Vladimir a BMW-650 GS world-class exploration motorcycle to finish his little adventure, and also meet Jerry Noterra, a BMW district manager who had a role in lining up the bike. No promises here, but the goal is for everyone to meet at the BMW display at around 1 p.m. Saturday. It sounds like this will work out, but you know how it goes. If you are at the show Saturday, stop by the BMW display at 1 p.m. and see if the plan is working.

Meanwhile, Vladimir is working like crazy to build up his strength. He has regular visits to the physical therapy room at St. Clare, but he goes in sometimes for extra workouts. His right hand is at full strength, and the left is maybe 30 percent or so. He knows it will have to be better than that if he’s going to be able to work the clutch on the BMW, but we think he’s gonna do it.

OK, one last story. Vladimir was at breakfast in the St. Clare dining room Sunday morning when I came to pick him up. He usually sits with the same two women, who really seem to enjoy his company, even if he doesn’t say much.

Well, Vladimir made sure I got a cup of coffee, and when we were about ready to go, he took his napkin and tore in two and gave me half. I turned to his two elderly lady friends and said, “That Vladimir always tries to be a gentleman.”

One of the women quickly corrected me. “Oh,” she said, “He doesn’t just TRY to be a gentleman, he IS a gentleman.”

Well there you go.

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Wednesday, January 21, 2004 11:35 AM CST

Vladimir’s Big Surprise

Driving down to Peoria, Illinois, on Saturday morning, I heard a news item on the radio that some organization had come up with a list of “the friendliest cities in the U.S.A.” I didn’t catch the name of the organization, and I forgot who came in first, but the announcer said that Peoria tied for second place.

Well, second place isn’t bad, but I know one guy who would have rated it No. 1, and that’s our friend Vladimir. He couldn’t tell you that in so many words, of course, but you could tell it from the look on his face last Saturday evening, Jan. 17, when about 25 of his friends, most of them from Illinois, gathered for a pizza party and to be there when Vladimir was told for the first time that he was getting a BMW 650 GS to continue his trip around the world.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the nursing home’s party room that night when Missy (Vladimir’s nurse back at the St. Francis Hospital) handed Vladimir a bag with something wrapped up inside. Vladimir fussed with the wrappings for a bit but what finally emerged was a framed picture of the F650 and I think Vladimir just about started to cry himself.

You can see some video and still images of the party at the “Steve Queen” link that is on this page, just below the journal. Jim Williamson, another member of our group, also posted a neat picture of the pizza party brigade at this Web site:
http://www.jimwilliamson.net/temp/2004-01-17-vladimir-party.jpg /

Tom Breedlove read aloud to the group a letter that Rick Martin had translated into Russian so that Vladimir could understand exactly what he was getting and that it was a gift from Tag Sports, a BMW dealership near Chicago. The bike is just about perfect for the kind of quest that Vladimir has set himself on. We showed Vladimir a picture in another book of Helge Pederson, a world-class motorcycle traveler, and pointed out that Helge rides virtually the same bike that Vladimir is getting. Boy, did that get a smile out of the guy from Belarus.

In addition to the photo of the 650, Tom McIntyre had rounded up a really nice brochure of the 650 GS that had lots of photographs and technical information. Before he fell asleep that night, Vladimir had pretty much memorized every fact about the bike that appeared in the brochure’s technical specs section. We have a Russian version of the F-650 owner’s manual on the way, and no doubt Vladimir will have that memorized in no time.

The pizza party was just great, and many of us who only knew each other via e-mails were able to visit for a spell and put faces with e-mail addresses. We filled the party room in the nursing home to the hilt, and spilled out into the hallway some. It’s too bad the Vladimir couldn’t hear all the conversations, of course, but someone was always chatting with him and you could tell he was just a little overwhelmed by having so many friends all there at the same time.

We caught up on the latest news and Missy the nurse told us how close Vladimir had come to not making it … especially those first couple of days right after the Oct. 13 accident. He was really close to dying, she said.

Jumping for Joy

While Vladimir was figuratively jumping for joy Saturday night, he’s darn close to being able to literally jump for joy. He just stood on his feet for the first time about two weeks ago, and about 10 days ago, he was able to use a walker but would need to stop and rest after about 20 feet. By the night of the pizza party, he was getting around the halls of the St. Clare Home at a pretty darn good clip with his walker. He still uses the wheelchair some, but every day he uses the chair less and the walker more. The grip in his left hand (that’s the side where the arm was broken in several places) is getting stronger too, thanks in part to a little foam football he squeezes a lot.

Vladimir’s next doctor’s appointment is Jan. 29, and he says they’ll take a lot of x-rays and let him know how things are going. This is a total guesstimate right now, and it very easily could change, but there’s some hints that Vladimir could move out of the St. Clare Home in March, and that he could be on the road again in late April. There are a million things that could change this timetable, but we are using it as a guide right now.

Vladimir has a couple of wonderful offers from folks in Illinois who will let him stay at their homes after he is sprung from the St. Clare Home but before he’s totally ready to ride. You know, it’s hard to believe we are even talking about this when we think back to how seriously mangled he was after the accident.

Getting Outside for a Change

Looks like Vladimir will get to see a little change of scenery soon. If the doctors and nurses say it’s OK, he going to take a little road trip Saturday, Jan. 31, to visit his demolished Jawa that the semi truck ran over back in October. He started telling us over the weekend that he wanted to pack up the thing and mail it back to his sons in Belarus. Well, we’ll see. He thinks it will only cost about $600. Well, we’ll see again. This will be Vladimir’s first real outing since the accident, and no doubt it will be a difficult moment for him when he visits his old friend, the Jawa, that has taken him so far. I wonder if it will trigger any memories of the accident, itself, of which he has none.

Next, with the doctor’s permission, Vladimir is going to take a ride by luxurious motor coach to the massive annual international motorcycle show that will be in Chicago Saturday, Feb. 7. He’s going as a guest of Grayboy Motorsports, a dealership in Peoria that is sponsoring the bus trip up to Chicago. Right now, Rick Martin and Tom Breedlove are going with Vladimir, and they’ll bring along the wheelchair. He will be hanging out for awhile at the BMW display at the show, and will get to meet for the first time Bill Kautz, the owner of Tag Sports. Bill and his employees are the ones donating the F-650 to Vladimir. Vladimir also will get to see some of the F650s for the first time, and who knows, he might just be able to swing a leg over one of them. And so it begins.

OK, I’ve written too much again. I’ll try to write less, but more often.

On behalf of Vladimir, thanks to everyone for all your support. (One last little story. I wish you could have seen him “talking” to the elderly women at his dinner table at the nursing home at lunch Sunday, the day after his pizza party. He was wearing a U.S.A. baseball cap that someone had given him (complete with a fierce-looking eagle), and he would repeatedly point to the “U.S.A.” on the bill of his cap, smile his big smile, and give two thumbs up. He’s never going to forget this place.)

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Monday, January 5, 2004 5:11 PM CST

So here’s a good one.

Missy the nurse (she works at the St. Francis Hospital in Peoria that was Vladimir’s home for 50 days before moving to his new residence at the St. Clare Home) was visiting our friend the other day. He was showing her how he could now stand up on his feet, which to most of us is no big deal but in Vladimir’s case some might call it a miracle.

Anyway, Vladimir said that his pelvis didn’t hurt too much, but his ankles were kind of sore. Missy said something about that’s not so unusual, considering he broke both of them. Well, that apparently was news to Vladimir. He had so many broken parts as a result of his little tangle with the semi truck that he didn’t realize his injuries included a couple of broken ankles.

Vladimir is right on schedule with his healing, though, and Jan. 7 is going to be a big day in his recovery. That’s the day the doctors said it is OK for him to start walking. At first it will be little steps and he will use two parallel bars to support himself while he relearns how to walk.

Luckily his broken arm is healing well, too. He spends a lot of time squeezing a rubber ball with his weak hand to rebuild the strength, and he’ll need it to help support himself with the bars.

Later, he’s going to need that hand to work the clutch on his motorcycle, and he knows it, too.

It seems like Vladimir has an awfully long way to go, but he’s already come far. Those who know him have no doubt that he’s got the grit to work his way through the aches and pains of rehabilitation. Someone stopped by for the visit the other day and found him doing push-ups in his bed. We’re not sure if the doctor said that was OK or not, but it didn’t seem to hurt anything.

Many of his friends, and especially those from Illinois, will gather at the St. Clare Home in Peoria Heights at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, for a little pizza party and a big surprise. That’s the day we’re going to tell him that Tag Motorsports, located near Chicago, will be giving him a BMW F-650 to continue his journey around the world.

We probably would have told him sooner, but we wanted to get as many of his friends together as possible at one time. So far, it has been pretty easy to keep it a secret. All he knows is that his wrecked Jawa is going to have to go to motorcycle heaven. He’s been making plans to continue his trip, although he doesn’t have a clue right now about what he’s going to do it on.

One reason that we chose the 17th for the party is that Kerry Willey, a member of the group of us who are helping Vladimir, is going to give a talk earlier that afternoon about the Iron Butt Rally. The talk is going to be at a motorcycle shop in Peoria, just a couple miles from the St. Clare Home. So it’s shaping up to be a fun afternoon and evening. Vladimir doesn’t know why we’re planning to have a little party, but he’s excited about having all his buddies show up at the same time.

He’s got a couple of dates circled on his calendar. One is Jan. 7, the day he starts to walk, and the other is the 17th.

If anyone is interested in joining us for pizza, just send me an e-mail and I’ll get you the details. (I’m at jcwinterer@stthomas.edu). They have a party/meeting room at the St. Clare Home; it’s not huge but it should work just fine. We’re hoping that by the 17th, Vladimir will at least be taking a few steps on his own by then, and he can do a little showing off.

What all of us are really looking forward to, and we hope it will be this spring, is another party to celebrate Vladimir’s recovery and to send him on his way. That’s way down the road, and we’re not ones to count chickens until they hatch. But stay tuned … we’ll keep you posted.

Happy new year everyone, and thanks again to all who have sent cards and letters and hope and best wishes to Vladimir. He knows you’re rooting for him.

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 4:14 PM CST

Vladimir Update: Dec. 23, 2003

You’ve probably had this experience. You’re on a trip, and things just aren’t going well, and you think to yourself, “Gee, I sure would like to be home again.” I know I’ve had that experience plenty of times.

So here’s Vladimir, flat on his back in bed last weekend, 70 days since he has been on his feet. His riding clothes are destroyed; they couldn’t even find his helmet. He knows his Jawa motorcycle is wrecked beyond hope and he doesn’t have a clue where his next bike is coming from.

And is he thinking about the comforts of home? Are you kidding? Do you know Vladimir? No, he’s patiently pointing out on a dog-eared, National Geographic world map the exact roads he plans to travel until he finishes his trip sometime around 2006 or 2007 or who-knows-when. And he’s not planning some quick dash back home, either. When he was showing us his South America route, you could see that he’s not just trying to find the shortest way to visit each country, just so he can say he was there. When he gets to Brazil, for example, he’s figured out a complex route that zigs and zags throughout that huge country.

So that little story sums up Vladimir’s mood these days. You can just see the energy is back in his eyes. This guy’s ready to roll, although there’s a few details to take care of … like learning how to walk.

The therapists at the St. Clare home in Peoria, where he’s hanging his hat now, say Vladimir is making great progress. They have all the right rehabilitation gear, and the word is that he might be able to start putting some weight on his legs in about a month. When he starts doing that, he’ll first support himself with parallel bars. By that time, he should have just enough strength in his broken arm to help support himself on the bars. Hey, no one figured it would be easy.

Once they took the “fixator” device off his pelvis, that allowed him to sit in a wheelchair. He goes for spins around St. Clare, but he can’t go as fast as he’d like because of his weak paw. But he still likes getting out for a ride, even if it doesn’t have a motor.

The wheelchair also has given him the freedom to get his meals in the cafeteria and eat with others, instead of alone in his room. He says the food is great, and he’s eating well. Vladimir looks like he’s putting on a little more weight, and he’s doing a lot of exercising on the parts of him that can be exercised. “He sure is motivated,” his therapist said Saturday. If she only knew the half of it.

While he thinks he’s going to be back on his feet sooner than anyone else, the therapists are looking at the end of February before he begins to really walk; and maybe late-March to early-April as the time he can start getting around pretty well. All this depends on how well the bones continue to heal, but so far everything has been on target, or ahead of target.

Vladimir shares a room with an older gentleman (actually, I think 62-year-old Vladimir is the youngest person there), but Vladimir’s got the bed by the window, and it’s got a nice view. There was some snow outside over the weekend, but most of it is melting. Rick Martin came Sunday to visit on his Yamaha, but the rest of us have reverted to driving around in things with heaters.

Last weekend we brought in all the envelopes, notes and cards Vladimir received to date at the “Fund for Vladimir” address. He looked carefully at each one, and it almost seems like he can read them. But we tell him what each one said, just to make sure, and point to the spot on the map where the letter came from. It’s really something when you do it like that, because the cards have come from all over the country. You can tell it just blows him away, how so many Americans are lending him a hand. He sure is going to have some stories to tell when he gets home.

One of the weekend routines for those of us who swing by to give Vladimir a hard time is to make phone calls for him using the “free weekend minutes” on our cell phones. Vladimir has a couple of books with addresses, and he’s got a pack of business cards, so there’s no end of people to call. All these are people that have helped Vladimir along the way and many have had him stay at their homes. Many we call hadn’t yet heard the news of his accident. When you call them they are really happy to have a call from Vladimir, then really sad to hear about the big mess he’s gotten himself into, and then are really happy to hear that he’s on the mend.

We had to laugh last weekend when Rick Martin called someone who said, “That Vladimir sure is stubborn; he took that bike of his apart right in my kitchen!”

Sounds about right. We’ll keep you posted.

Jim Winterer

Monday, December 1, 2003 5:20 PM CST

Lots of news this week, so I think I'll use some little headlines to help you keep track of it. Here we go:

NEW HOME FOR VLADIMIR

That's right, after 50 days at the OSF St. Francis Hospital, he has made enough progress to move to an extended-care facility where his rehabilitation can continue.

We'll put this on the Caring Bridge Web site main page, but the new address is:

Vladimir Yarets
East 24
OSF St. Clare Home
5533 North Galena Road
Peoria Heights, IL 61616

The main number there is 309-682-5428.

He really does enjoy getting mail, both in English and in Russian.

This care facility is about five miles from the hospital, and is run by the same organization (OSF stands for Order of St. Francis) that runs the hospital.

We simply cannot say enough about both the kindness and the skill provided by the hospital. One bad thing is that Vladimir will leave behind some friends. No doubt he'll make new ones.

One he'll leave behind is his nurse, Missy. She might not like us to blab about this, but I was told she worked a day last weekend so she could get today off, so on her own time she could go to the nursing home in the ambulance with Vladimir today and make sure he got really settled in.

Missy is just one of many who have helped Vladimir at the hospital. Jamie Nora, the social worker, and Christy Fiedler, Vladimir's case manager, have been handling all the complex, behind-the-scenes details, including Vladimir's application for public assistance (not yet approved but still on track) and finding him a long-term care facility.

Darvis King, Vladimir's physical therapist, has been perfect for Vladimir because Darvis' parents are deaf and he grew up using sign language, just like Vladimir. Also helping to keep Vladimir's parts moving has been his occupational therapist, Gigi Weydert.

We don't have the names of the surgeons who put Vladimir back together again, but our hats off to them too, and all the other caregivers at St. Francis.

VLADIMIR'S CONDITION

Some good news on this front. A device called a "fixator" will be removed sooner than earlier expected. This is a collection of metal rods that are on the outside of Vladimir, but they go through his skin to keep his pelvis bones in place while they heal.

They thought the fixator would have to be on for another three months. Now they are saying six weeks.

Vladimir cannot put any weight on his feet until the pelvis is healed. Because he will be on his back for such a long time, the therapist says Vladimir will actually have to learn how to walk all over again.

It's not going to be easy, but all indications are that he'll be able to do it.

DON'T SEND RICK MARTIN SHOPPING AT WAL-MART

Okay, something a little goofy happened Friday (the busiest shopping day in the universe) when Rick Martin and his partner in crime (that would be me) set off with some of your donation money to buy Vladimir some duds so he would look presentable at his new home.

A guy who travels around the world on a Jawa doesn't pack a lot of fancy pajamas, so we had to get him some, plus stuff like shaving cream and related items.

When we finally fought our way through the crowds of shoppers filled with Christmas cheer (not) we were just about to toss the last thing or two into the cart. Of course, Rick was supposed to be watching the cart. He claims I was. Anyway, one of the bad elfs stole the thing. We had to go find a new cart and fill it with stuff all over again. By then, we too were filled with holiday cheer.

But we actually do have some very cheerful news.

VLADIMIR IN THE NEWS

A story about Vladimir, and a couple of pictures, appeared Saturday on the front page of the Chicago Tribune, which has got to be one of the larger papers in the country.

It was a great story that included an interview with Vladimir's son back in Russia.

The reporter, Russell Working, drove down to Peoria from Chicago for the interview last week. Tom McIntyre, a Peoria broadcast journalist who is helping out with Vladimir, helped with the interview. Russell brought along his wife (a native of Russia) who helped with translations, and their brand-new baby.

You can read the story by going to www.chicagotribune.com. You have to sign up to use the Web site, which takes a couple of minutes. You then can do a search. Just type in Vladimir (not too many stories with Vladimir in them lately) in the "search" box and the story will pop right up. You can read it for free until next Saturday, Dec. 6; after that you have to pay. The Web version doesn't show the pictures that were in the paper. One shot shows Vladimir in Anchorage, Alaska, before the accident; the other shows him with a big smile in his bed at St. Francis Hospital.

Russell said one reason the story appeared on the front page was because the editors were impressed with the way so many people from all over have come forward to help Vladimir. If you're reading this, you're probably one of those people, so way to go.

And there's more good news.

NEW WHEELS FOR VLADIMIR

Jerry Noterra (I'm sure that's not spelled correctly, sorry) who is a Midwest district manager for BMW motorcycles had heard earlier about Vladimir's accident and long recovery ahead.

When he read the story in the Chicago Tribune Saturday he started contacting BMW shops to see what kind of help they might be able to come up with.

They came up with something totally perfect, that's all.

Bill Kautz, owner of Tag Sport BMW of Geneva, Illinois (about 35 miles west of Chicago) offered to give Vladimir a barely-broken-in BMW F650 motorcycle. It's the GS model, and for those of you not familiar with this bike, it is one of the top machines of choice for adventurers who travel around the world. Bill says the bike is a beautiful bright yellow and has 3,500 miles, so it has been broken in and all the service is up to date. In other words, it's all set to start out on a trip around the world.

It almost seems too early to think about getting Vladimir back on the road, but he's thinking about it, so we were thinking about it.

The group of us were discouraged recently to learn that an expert on Jawa motorcycles had checked Vladimir's bike and confirmed that it was not repairable. Not even close. Thanks to Don Kueny of the North American Jawa Club for driving down from Wisconsin to inspect the bike.

That made Bill Kautz' offer all the more welcome.

MORE THANKS

I think we'll be able to come up with a total next week on how the two funds are doing, but it looks like well over $3,000. We've been able to send thank you notes to people who mailed in cards and gifts, but haven't figured out how to do that with those who helped via PayPal. We hope to figure that out eventually.

Anyway, to everyone who helped, many, many thanks. This was quite a Thanksgiving for Vladimir.

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Thursday, November 20, 2003 4:48 PM CST

Vladimir Update: November 20, 2003

Hope this won’t sound like a stuck record, but Vladimir continues to make significant progress. If his bones were in the same shape as his spirits, he’d be out running marathons right now.

His memory seems almost fine now, although this is a little tricky to judge because most of us didn’t know what Vladimir’s memory was like before the accident, so it’s hard to compare. A very deep scrape on Vladimir’s forehead is still healing from the Oct. 13 accident.

The one thing he can’t remember, though, is the accident. It’s hard to say if he will ever remember that. Some of the interpreters and sign-language people have explained it to him, and reviewed with him the accident report. It must be a strange feeling to be unable to recall the event that turned your life completely upside down.

Without getting into details or a commentary, the Illinois State Police accident report states that Vladimir was stopped and sitting on his motorcycle in the right hand lane of the I-74 freeway around dusk. A car and a semi were in the same lane, heading toward Vladimir. Again according to the report, the car moved into the left lane and avoided Vladimir, but the truck that was following the car struck Vladimir and his bike. The impact sent Vladimir into the ditch, and it appears the truck drove over Vladimir’s Jawa. The truck then rolled over.

With everything so much up in the air at the moment, it’s best not to even begin to speculate about the accident and how it might have happened. We might never know. I’ve only mentioned the bare-bones facts from the police report, because some of you might not know what happened.

The same spirit that led Vladimir to travel around the world and make friends just about everywhere he stopped has not been damaged, that’s for sure. Reports are that the folks at the hospital really enjoy having him for a patient. One of the luckiest things that ever happened to Vladimir is that he landed in the St. Francis Hospital in Peoria. He has incredible nurses, especially his main nurse, Missy. The rest of the staff, including Jamie the social worker, are in there helping too.

Vladimir’s caregivers are learning to communicate with him better all the time. They have learned he REALLY likes to keep clean, and he likes to save everything, too. (This comes as no surprise to those who saw all the stuff he lugged around on the back of his Jawa.) He works hard at his physical therapy, and last weekend they had him playing basketball (well, sort of) from his wheelchair in the hospital therapy room. He’s also continued to shave, so for now he hasn’t started his big bushy beard.

Again without getting into details (because none of these things have been finalized yet) we are seeing some very welcome developments on several fronts: it looks like someone will be helping Vladimir with legal matters; things might be falling into place for a long-term (several months) care site; and some people who really know Jawas are joining the effort to lend Vladimir a hand.

We did ask Vladimir what kind of bike he’d like to continue his travels on when he’s back on his feet, and of course he’d be happy with a Jawa, but he wouldn’t mind a BMW of some kind, either. Vladimir has owned only Jawas (six of them) since he got his first one in 1960. When you are wondering around the world, it helps to know your machine.

He’s continuing to get cards and letters at the hospital, and The Sons of Thunder Motorcycle Ministry in Illinois is helping out in various ways. There is a core group of people who continue to out on a regular basis.

It's really something to see Vladimir on weekend afternoon when he gets lots of visitors and he shows pictures from his travels. The guy just lights up.

And we hate to say this, but in at least one way a little bit of America seems to be rubbing off on this Russian motorcyclist. He used to love a sip of pickle juice now and then, and he still does, but now his beverage of choice has become Sprite soda. Oh no, what have we done :)

We’ll keep you posted as some of these developments take shape. For now, though, it still looks like it will be about three months before the pelvis fixator can be removed. And after that, there still will be therapy. If anyone can muster the will to continue, it’s Vladimir.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003 4:24 PM CST

Already 30 days

Today is November 11, and it is the 30th day since Vladimir tangled with a semi out on Interstate 74.

While there are still months to go in his recovery, which is kind of discouraging, the good news is that Vladimir continues to make good progress, and his circle of friends grows ever larger.

He is sitting up much more now, and spends longer periods of time in his wheelchair. Sometimes he gets to wheel out onto a balcony that overlooks Peoria and parts of the freeway. No doubt that gets him to thinking of his painfully interrupted journey, and of the work ahead to stay in shape and regain the strength he’ll need once he’s back on the road.

Last Saturday Vladimir had a genuine crowd of visitors, and on Sunday he got a special treat: a group of Russian motorcyclists from Chicago rode down (brrrr) to say hello and they brought him some kind of thick milk called Real Kefir, or at least that’s what it said on the bottle. The visitors were Alex Chernis, Alex Kogan, Art Yavorskig, and Igor Blimes and you can see a picture of them, and Vladimir, and even the bottle of Kefir, on Steve Queen’s photo Website at http://homepage.a5.com/~goodbean/. There’s a better link to this photo site on that list of links higher up on this page. Also, you can learn more about the Russian riders at their Website: www.chicagorussianriders.com.

One really nice thing the Russian riders did during their visit was to make a call for him to Vladimir’s sons back in Russia. It’s always interesting to make a phone call on behalf of Vladimir, because you always wind up trying to hold the phone in one hand and make sign-language gestures (or attempts at sign language) with the other. Don’t stand too close or you might get clipped by a hand pretending it’s twisting a throttle or something. You also wind up hugging yourself a lot, because that’s a handy way of saying “I care for you.” So Vladimir gives himself a hug and points to the phone, and then you tell the person, “Vladimir sends his love,” and then the person on the phone says, “Send him my love too” and so you hug yourself while looking at Vladimir and pointing to the phone. You can do it a lot faster than it takes to explain it.

We took some of the contributions sent to Vladimir and recently bought him some warm socks, because his toes get chilly, and also restocked his supply of breakfast treats (the mixture of sour cream, cottage cheese and jelly).

We got started on writing some thank you notes to people have sent help of some kind Vladimir’s way. Many of the thank-yous went to the good folks in the Illinois area, and other notes to California and New York and places in-between. I won’t mention names, because the people didn’t send gifts with the idea of having their name on the Internet, but some notes to Vladimir explained they wanted to help because someone had once helped them when they were hurt or in a tough spot.

That’s it for now. We’re in a holding pattern, with slow but sure progress. Thanks for tuning in.

Tuesday, November 4, 2003 10:22 AM CST

Vladimir’s weekend.

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2004

Vladimir sure wasn’t lucky when he got hit by a semi, but he sure was lucky to land in the St. Francis Hospital in Peoria. What a great place and a great staff. Thank you to all the doctors and nurses and therapists and staff members who are figuring out ways to communicate with Vladimir and accommodate his deafness.

Thank you too for the contributions to the Fund for Vladimir, and for the cards and letters that he has been receiving.

Vladimir was in good spirits this weekend. When he went for a wheelchair ride around the second floor the hospital, he started getting into it and leaned this way and that as he went around the corners. There’s no doubt he was thinking about his motorcycle.

It’s a project to get him into the chair because of the stabilizer device on his pelvis. Of all his broken bones, his pelvis seems to be the most complicated to repair. He has metal bars attached (probably screwed but I’m not sure) into his pelvis. These bars stick out through his skin and then there’s a maze of more metal bars that connect to one another. The whole works is designed to immobilize the pelvis and allow the breaks to mend.

One of his nurses on Saturday said that pelvis device would have to remain in place for three to four months. He won’t have to remain in the hospital that long, but will likely moved to a long-term nursing care facility where Vladimir can continue with his physical therapy and related care. This is somewhat complicated, so it isn’t likely that Vladimir could just go to someone’s house for his rehabilitation.

With the help of translators who come to the hospital, Vladimir is coming to understand how long this process is going to take. You can see the look of determination in his eyes that his goal is to get better, and to continue his journey. He said that for awhile he had hoped to continue before the snow came, but he now knows that he will be spending the winter with us.

The translators have also been working with Vladimir to help him understand about his accident and exactly why he is in the hospital. Communicating with him is not an exact science, as you can imagine, and he seemed to have been confused about how he wound up with all these broken bones. He seems to have it figured out, now, although he can’t remember anything about the accident or how it might have happened. “The drivers in the United States are very good,” he told Edwin, one of the translators.

We’ve been thinking about what to do about Vladimir’s motorcycle, and if we should attempt to help replace it, what would be a good bike for him. Vladimir’s got the right idea. When we asked him about what kind of bike he think would be best, he said, “Let’s get me healed, and worry about the bike later.” That sounded like good advice.

We are finding little ways to make life better for him at the moment. The hospital brings him one of his favorite treats, a mixture of sour cream, cottage cheese and jelly. He’s eating well and likes the food. Kerry and Rick have carefully stored Vladimir’s bike and belongings for now, and they looked through his packs for any pairs of glasses. They found several (actually, more than several) and brought a few of them to the hospital. One of those pairs was Vladimir’s favorite, and he beamed when he saw and put them on. They look really weird (and I’m not kidding) but they sure work well.

If you have time and want to see something about Vladimir’s life and travels, go to Steve Queen’s Web site that is listed as one of the links in the introduction to this CaringBridge site. It is the link named: Steve Queen, of Peoria, Il has a collection of photos here. Steve has been posting new pictures about Vladimir on a regular basis. At the bottom of Steve’s site, there is a link to:

http://www.a-due.pisem.net/yarets/index.html

I believe that site is created by one of Vladimir’s sons back in Belarus. Lots of interesting pictures.

That’s it for today. Vladimir likes the cards, and he likes visitors. You should have seen him Saturday night, surrounded by friends and translators. Everyone was swapping stories, and you could tell he was having a good time. For a moment, you almost forgot what a big mess he’s in. It will be good to see Vladimir back on the road one of these days.

Jim Winterer
St. Paul, Minnesota

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 11:51 AM CST

Oct. 28, 2003

Thank goodness for the Internet, and for people who have stepped forward to help Vladimir.

Less than a week ago, almost no one had heard the news that Vladimir had been creamed by a truck. Today, he is being helped by a stream of visitors to his hospital room as well as people from throughout the country who are lending a hand in various ways. Many of these people have met Vladimir on his travels, but probably just as many have not.

For a good overview of all that has happened to Vladimir, in recent days and recent years, you can read a Peoria Journal Star newspaper story about him that appeared on Tuesday, Oct. 28. It is at:

http://www.pjstar.com/news/luciano/b15htqha033.html

Also, a local television station carried a story about him Monday evening. A link to that story is:

http://www.week.com/morenews/morenews-read.asp?id=2689

It is clear from reports by the visitors that some days are going better for Vladimir than others, but overall, his spirits are good, his physical therapy has begun, and he’s beginning to make progress on a long road to recovery. But then, Vladimir knows a thing or two about long roads.

A big step forward was made Sunday when someone who is deaf and mute paid a visit to the hospital and was able to explain to Vladimir all sorts of things. It brightened his day to finally understand that his bike and belongings, for example, were now picked up from the towing service and are safely stored.

We are going to have to do something about those Web site addresses on this page, because you can’t click on them and they are hard to copy and paste. But here are two Web sites worth checking out.

First, Steve Queen of Peoria has kindly offered to post photos of Vladimir on his Web site. The first thing you’ll find on that site is a short Vladimir video (try saying that 10 times real fast). There are more pictures of Vladimir in the hospital, many taken by Rick Martin, and some of Vladimir’s smashed-up bike. Steve’s Web site is at:

http://homepage.a5.com/~goodbean/.

There’s also some great pictures, and many comments about Vladimir, on the Advriders (Adventure Riders) Web site. Several Advriders visited Vladimir over the weekend and you can see their photos at:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27552.

Way to go you guys.

I’ll try to keep these journals shorter than in the past, but hope to update them often. Please stop by again and check on Vladimir’s progress and the latest photos. It sounds like there will be some television and newspaper stories coming out soon about Vladimir’s accident, so we’ll provide those links as soon as possible.

Finally, we hope to have a PayPal account fired up soon so that if anyone wants to contribute to the Fund for Vladimir over the Internet, that will be the way to go.

If you have a little Vladimir story you could tell us, or have visited him in the hospital, feel free to tell us about it by using the guestbook feature at the bottom of this page. Also, if you visit him in the hospital, please sign his guestbook.

And if you do have an opportunity to visit him in person, remember that he’s going to be having good days and bad days, so be prepared for most anything.

And thanks to all who have helped so far.
Jim Winterer

Monday, October 27, 2003 2:56 PM CST

Oct. 27, 2003

Thank goodness for the Internet, and for people who have stepped forward to help Vladimir.

Less than a week ago, almost no one had heard the news that Vladimir had been creamed by a truck. Today, he is being helped by a stream of visitors to his hospital room as well as people from throughout the country who are lending a hand in various ways. Many of these people have met Vladimir on his travels, but probably just as many have not.

It is clear from reports by the visitors that some days are going better for Vladimir than others, but overall, his spirits are good, his physical therapy has begun, and he’s beginning to make progress on a long road to recovery. But then, Vladimir knows a thing or two about long roads.

A big step forward was made Sunday when someone who is deaf and mute paid a visit to the hospital and was able to explain to Vladimir all sorts of things. It brightened his day to finally understand that his bike and belongings, for example, were now picked up from the towing service and are safely stored.

We are going to have to do something about those Web site addresses on this page, because you can’t click on them and they are hard to copy and paste. But here are two Web sites worth checking out.

First, Steve Queen of Peoria has kindly offered to post photos of Vladimir on his Web site. The first thing you’ll find on that site is a short Vladimir video (try saying that 10 times real fast). There are more pictures of Vladimir in the hospital, many taken by Rick Martin, and some of Vladimir’s smashed-up bike. Steve’s Web site is at:
http://homepage.a5.com/~goodbean/ .

There’s also some great pictures, and many comments about Vladimir, on the Advriders (Adventure Riders) Web site. Several Advriders visited Vladimir over the weekend and you can see their photos at:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27552. Way to go you guys.

I’ll try to keep these journals shorter than in the past, but hope to update them often. Please stop by again and check on Vladimir’s progress and the latest photos. It sounds like there will be some television and newspaper stories coming out soon about Vladimir’s accident, so we’ll provide those links as soon as possible.

Finally, we hope to have a PayPal account fired up soon so that if anyone wants to contribute to the Fund for Vladimir over the Internet, that will be the way to go.

If you have a little Vladimir story you could tell us, or have visited him in the hospital, feel free to tell us about it by using the guestbook feature at the bottom of this page. Also, if you visit him in the hospital, please sign his guestbook.

And if you do have an opportunity to visit him in person, remember that he’s going to be having good days and bad days, so be prepared for most anything.

And thanks to all who have helped so far.
Jim Winterer

Friday, October 24, 2003 11:20 AM CDT

Following are two recent updates about Vladimir. These have been posted on a number of internet sites, so you might have read them already. Both were written by Jim Winterer of St. Paul, Minnesota, who recently had Vladimir as a house guest a couple of weeks before Vladimir's crash.

First Update: Tuesday, Oct. 21:

Ouch; sad news out of Illinois.

Vladimir Yarets, the tough-as-nails, 62-year-old, deaf-and-mute Russian from Belarus who has been nursing an old Jawa 350 two-stroke around the world tangled with a semi about a week ago on I-74 near Le Roy, about 20 miles southeast of Bloomington, Illinois.

Details are sketchy, but he’s said to be in stable condition at the St. Francis Hospital intensive care ward in Peoria with two broken legs, a broken pelvis, a broken arm and who knows what else.

Many who attended the finish of the Iron Butt Rally in Missoula got to meet this guy. I met him there and he later spent some days recharging his LD batteries at my home in St. Paul, Minnesota. The guy has a big heart and an amazing talent for making friends wherever he goes.

One of those friends is Anastasia Kitsul, a native of Russia and graduate of Yale and now of Puerto Rico who helped Vladimir for several weeks when his Jawa got tangled up in a customs mess or something when it was being shipped from South America. Anyway, she has been kind of his behind-the-scenes helper during his travels, and she called me last night with the news.

She’s trying to get the police report, but what she heard so far was that the Jawa had stalled on one of the freeway lanes, or was going really slow. She heard that the semi tried to swerve around him but couldn’t and the truck nailed him.

She is trying to help locate his bike, explain things to the hospital, get the accident report, contact his family back in Belarus, etc. She asked if I knew any long-distance riders who might live in the Peoria area, and if so, would anyone be able to stop at the hospital and say hi. She knows it would mean a lot to him. And just to be honest about all this, if you stopped in to say hi, who knows where that might lead.

Also, she’s hoping to locate the bike (they said it was totaled) and get it out of storage before those bills get too high. Vladimir was packing a LOT of stuff on the bike, including an amazing collection of maps and pictures of his world travels.

Anyway, if anyone in LD land is willing to swing by and say hi to Vladimir, send me an e-mail and I’ll give you the phone number of the hospital. I’m at jcwinterer@stthomas.edu.

Probably most of us know what it’s like to have bike troubles far from home, and some of us know what it’s like to crash and need care. Vladimir has gotten himself into a real tough one this time.

I imagine he must be pretty miserable, compounded by his inability to talk or hear. He can read a little, but Anastasia said his glasses were either destroyed or are with the bike, so he can’t read the faxes in Russian that she has sent him.

Let's hope this can somehow have a happy ending.

Second Update: Thursday, Oct. 23

It’s a rally … in support of our Russian friend Vladimir

I was going to wait until things got more organized before posting an update on Vladimir, the deaf-and-mute, 62-year-old Russian whose seven-year trip around the world on his Jawa 350 two-stoke was interrupted when he got clobbered by a semi truck in Illinois the other day. But I realized getting organized is a moving target, so here’s what’s up at the moment.

The most important thing right now is that Vladimir is very busted up, but in remarkable spirits, in a top-notch trauma hospital in Peoria, Illinois. They are operating on his broken arm again today. It is going to take a long time to recover because in addition to his two broken legs and pelvis (and I guess some ribs) his broken arm means he won’t be able to get up and use a walker to get around. He’s got a doozy of a cut on his forehead, but thankfully no major internal injuries or brain or spinal cord problems.

Vladimir is already making friends in the hospital. Someone visiting him last night said a nurse poked her head in the room before leaving and said, “Good night Vladimir, I love you.” He is starting to get visitors, virtually all of them from the riding community. More are expected this weekend. One rider yesterday stopped by with several pairs of glasses and they found some that worked. The doctors and nurses are starting to figure out how to communicate with him, and it was a step in the right direction last night when he was able to give them permission to operate again today.

I’m afraid to start mentioning too many names, but riders Kerry Willey and Rick Martin have been a huge help in sorting things out things in Illinois. They have located what remains of his bike and will take care of picking it up and storing it, so that’s covered.

I’m also afraid to say much about the accident because I haven’t seen the police report, and because lawyers read the Web. Last night I did speak to Anastasia (Vladimir’s phone helper from Puerto Rico but before that she was from Russia) who spoke to the investigating officer. Apparently Vladimir’s bike had stalled in the right-hand lane of the freeway. I’m told he was sitting on it when a car came from behind and was able to swerve out of the way. However, a semi that was following the car was unable to swerve, and struck Vladimir. The officer said all that stuff he was carrying on the Jawa (his saddle bags were Igloo coolers, kind of a sideways version of Leon Beggerman’s cooler on his legendary 250cc Iron Butt machine) helped absorb some of the impact. Of course Vladimir couldn’t have heard the truck barreling down on him. Ouch, I hate to even think about that part.

How to help: This is still in the works, but we plan to have a Web site soon. Eddie James has said that we can use the Team Strange Web site, which has a discussion board, as much as we want. There’s also a service that provides free Web pages, with discussion boards, for people who are sick or injured. I think Vladimir should qualify. I’ll post something soon about that. We’ve had an offer to help set up a PayPal account to help Vladimir. That’s getting sorted out too. Stay tuned for more details about the Web site and how to help if that’s something you might like to do.

Vladimir did have some money in a pocket. For someone traveling around the world, believe me, it wasn’t much. Probably about enough to pay for eight minutes in his hospital room. All his finances need to be sorted out (but it doesn’t take long to count money in a thin wallet) and no doubt he’s going to need a little help in that department.

Among other things, we’ve had no less than three offers to provide him with another bike. Let’s hope he recovers well enough to use one of them.

What I’m sure would help him now would be visitors and get-well cards. They can be sent to:
Vladimir Yarets
Room 2218
St. Francis Hospital
530 NE Glen Oak Avenue
Peoria, IL, USA 61637

If you think you could stop for a visit, a general number to call to check on his room (the latest report is that he's in Room 2218), visiting hours, etc. is (309) 655 2000. He doesn’t seem to like candy. His favorite breakfast at my house was half a container of cottage cheese, half a tub of sour cream, and half a jar of jelly, all mixed together, and I’m not kidding, washed down with some dill-pickle juice (he offered me some but I stuck with my bowl of Cheerios thank you).

If you see this on this list, and you had copied the original report about Vladimir to other internet lists, please feel free to forward this one as well.

One last thing for now: You would have been proud of the U.S. motorcycling community if you could have heard Anastasia last night. The other day she was hoping to find maybe one person who could check up on Vladimir at the hospital. Now I’ve forwarded to her so many e-mails from you guys that this morning her e-mail account collapsed and won’t accept any more messages. “I had been trying to help him alone,” she said on the phone. “And now there are all these people who are helping. I can’t believe it; it’s just wonderful.”

Thursday, October 23, 2003 6:30 PM CDT

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