TRIP REPORT THRILLING CONCLUSION (WITH A TWIST ENDING!)
There's a reason I have been delayed in finishing this report, and some of you may be interested (unnerved?) by the following.
To begin to finish, I have to go back to that day I last reported on at King's Dominion. It was an oppressively hot and humid day, one in which I kept drinking like mad and still felt dehydrated and spent all the time.
I was riding with a fellow enthusiast and I distinctly remembering telling him, "I know that everyone considers i305 one of the most intense coasters in the world, but I've ridden it before and after riding it again this morning, I have to say I never really felt it was that intense. I mean, I get that it has the G-forces on that turn, but I've never greyed or blacked out on it, and g-forces alone aren't really my sense of intensity. I think of Voyage and X2 and El Toro much sooner when I think of intensity." In retrospect, this hubris must have been what caught the attention of the coaster gods.
In the afternoon, I rode i305 again in the back row. As always, I did not grey out on the infamous first turn, but later in the ride, during those insane one-side-to-the-other snappy transitions, I remember vaguely feeling a bit funny in the head. When I got off the ride, I definitely felt a bit funny in the head. But the heat was ridiculously intense, sort of masking the sensation in its general oppressiveness. The funny head feeling stayed with me for the rest of the day, but I thought it was that heat and humidity making me feel a bit wonky. I even had another front-row ride on i305, several more rides on Twisted Timbers, and a final ride on Grizzly before leaving. I was sure I just needed a bit of rest after an intense day, and as I was going to be meeting with family for the next few days, rest was just what was lined up.
However, I was surprised when I woke up the next morning and still had that funny feeling in my head. It wasn't a headache or dizziness; it was more a "bombed-out" feeling, sort of that dumb, shellshocked head feeling I might have during a hangover. This was a little unsettling, but I had a long drive to pick up immediate family from the Charlotte airport, and then to take them to meet extended family in central North Carolina.
Over the next four days, I socialized with family just fine, but all the while this bombed-out feeling was not subsiding in the least. And in fact, a decided stiffness was slowly increasing up the length of my spine, neck, and back of the head. I wasn't telling most of the family about this, but I was quietly beginning to get a little alarmed. Did I "shake something loose"? I.e., was there some kind of damage to my head? Not the kind of thing you can take lightly when your brain very clearly doesn't feel right and isn't getting better for many days.
Finally, after five days, I was scheduled to leave the extended family and travel with my sister and nephews on a further vacation (Smoky Mountains, Dollywood, and Carowinds). So this was the right time to pop into a local hospital and have a CT Scan done on my head. The news was a huge relief, all things considered. The CT Scan showed no evident damage, and the doctor diagnosed both concussion AND whiplash. Aside from a painkilling injection, the main prescription was to take it easy for some time -- no jarring activities and no loud music, etc.
We spent several days in the Smoky Mountains, and in a few days we went to Dollywood as scheduled. However, I played the role of the Grandpa, sitting and watching as the young'uns went on rides. I've been on them all before, so it wasn't so tragic for me (it was much harder for the boys when they realized Lightning Rod really wasn't going to open the whole day!). I did allow myself the one indulgence of going on Dragonflier. New cred for me, and I knew it would be very smooth. I thought it was tamer than, say, Orkanen, but still an enjoyable ride. I was surprised by how much my nephews -- budding enthusiasts -- really loved it.
Several days later we went to Carowinds. Same story: I've been before, the boys hadn't, I sat and watched them ride. However, as my head was 95% better by now, I allowed myself two indulgences: I rode Copperhead Strike twice (new cred for me; enjoyable ride for the hangtime, but no world-beater), and later Fury once in the front row (I've heard others talk about the ride having a rattle and never noticed it, but this time it was really obvious -- still an awesome ride, though). These rides may have been a mistake, as they did seem to re-aggravate the concussion to some extent. It's tricky because it doesn't make itself felt right away, but just slowly gets worse if it's disturbed in some way.
After I saw off the sister and nephews, I had plans to meet a friend at SFoG, and then to hit Kennywood and Lakemont on the way home to NYC. I canceled these plans and stopped at Shenandoah National Park on the way home instead.
It has now been over two weeks since that day at KD. The neck pain is long gone, but the concussion is still lingering, abating very slowly, as the doctor had said it might.
I'll sign off by asking anyone who managed to read all of this: have you ever experienced anything like this from a coaster? I'm just hoping this is a one-off experience. I mean, I have been riding coasters all summer long, to an insane degree, and put in similar stints last summer -- all with no ill effects to my head. My plan now is to have this be the end of my coaster season, but I certainly am still hoping to get back at the coasters next season!