Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

Running on Empty 299many times before, these inflated hopes were grounded by harsh reality.This FARC column was barely managing to scrape by.Every so often we had mirrors for shaving. The FARC frequentlyconfiscated these because they could be used to signal aircraft, and eachtime I got a new one, I was shocked to see how much I’d deteriorated.Like Tom and Keith, I’d taken on the sunken-eyed and hollow-cheekedappearance of the destitute. We knew that we weren’t getting enoughfruit and vegetables in our diet and calcium was practically nonexistent.Without much calcium and vitamin D, my teeth were weakenedto the point that I constantly chipped them. My nails grew brittle aswell, and as they grew they were dotted with tiny holes.We didn’t enjoy the tough times, but we seemed better able to dealwith them. One of the things we did to keep ourselves going was talkabout what we’d do when we were finally home. I had always had apassionate affair with motorcycles. The night before I left for Colombiato begin my last rotation before the crash, I had taken my bike outfor a last ride. The kids were in bed, and I kissed Shane good-bye andtook off at about nine-thirty at night. I headed up US 1 and crossedthe Seven-Mile Bridge and stopped at Marathon Key. The weather waswarm and the breeze felt cool as I whipped along. At that hour, thetraffic was relatively light. On my return trip, I decided to open it up abit. My bike was a Yamaha R-6, what some people refer to as a crotchrocket. While I didn’t blast through the atmosphere and into outerspace, I did watch as the speedometer’s readout climbed past 100, then110, and by the time I backed off the throttle, I’d hit 137. The incrediblebladder-tingling sensation of moving that fast, experiencing that kindof freedom, was something I often returned to while slogging througha march or enduring a long day in an enclosure like the barbed-wirecage.Tom was also into motorcycles. He had a couple of English bikes;a BSA Golden Flash was among his favorites. I’d never heard of BSAbikes. By the time I was riding, the company had gone out of business,