The Rattler bit me!

It's no secret to those who have known me a long time, that for much of my life I have had serious issues with heights (a.k.a. acrophobia). In the late '90s I more or less overcame the fear, thanks to the final ride installed in Opryland USA themepark before it closed for good. That ride was "The Hangman", a hanging & therefore floorless roller coaster.

When I began working seasonally at Fiesta Texas in '04, I remembered how "The Rattler" wooden roller coaster was the feature ride when the park had opened in '92, and how because some riders complained of injuries -- whiplash or the like -- the ride had had to be "tamed" as it were. That first summer of '04 I had entered the park on an off-from-work day and had considered riding even The Rattler -- until I witnessed how when the cars came down from circling around in a loop and then ascended a straight stretch back up to the top of the old quarry cliff the wooden structure VISIBLY shook from side to side perhaps five feet!

No wonder the wooden coaster was named "The Rattler"! Now my employee training had stressed to me that at Six Flags parks it was "Safety first last and always!" Nevertheless my heart told me that "sure as shootin', you get on The Rattler and it'll fall apart right at that point right when your car gets there!"

So-o-o, for over two years I hadn't even considered riding the thing. But remember the "Crew Ride" I had won? (See Sunday, 30 July blog entry.) Well, last Wednesday evening that raffle winning turned into a ride on The Rattler. All thru the day, whenever I was working as depot agent at the Western station (which looks right at that straight stretch that "rattles" so) I was busy psyching myself up to do the ride.

And I did it! Yup, I've been a rider on The Rattler, the largest & fastest wooden coaster when the themepark first opened -- if not still the same.

But the manmade beast really did "bite" me! During my spiel as conductor on the train, while passing under the coaster I would conclude with "The Rattler is a ride with quite some bite!" Well, when I stood up to exit the car my lower back was in pain. By the time I walked all the way across the themepark to the employee entrance and caught the bus home I felt better. So I only gave it further tho't during the infrequent twinge of pain before going to bed and after arising the next day.

However, the venom kicked in when I got to work at the park. You see, the express bus VÍA provided Thursday morning was one of its old RTS types, with two significant steps up to get on the bus and very cushy cushions on the seats. When I stood up to get off at the employee bus stop, oh! the pain and agony in my lower back! It was all I could do just to descend those two big steps to get to the ground. And then I had to get word to the park's First Aid to come to my rescue.

Let me give credit where credit is due. First Aid took such good care of my back pain that after two hours of being there I felt well en'uf to still do my final hours on the train. And the next day I did a double shift. The pain is still there in my lower back, I'm still taking Ibuprofen and applying relaxing heat to my lower back muscles. But I'm able to function!

So-o-o! I've now ridden The Rattler. And been bitten by the same and survived!