Had a adventure on the Cannan Valley West Virginia Meet and Greet.

Paul from Michigan calls me up from Lake Havasu Arizona complaining about 115F temps and asks if he can ride over and enjoy my central A/C and ride up to West Virgina in my A/C Truck with his bike on my motorcycle trailer with mine. I say sure. C'mon over. I'll heat up some Biscuits and Gravy when you get here. Paul was helping a friend move from Michigan to Arizona with a Penske truck.

Fast forward. Driving with both bikes on my trailer. No problems all through Texas. We get into Arkansas. Night has fallen. Sparks flying and the trailer is dragging at 75 MPH on the freeway.

I figure flat tire. Walk back to the trailer. Wheel is gone. All studs are snapped off on the spindle that bolts the wheel to the trailer axle. Big trouble. We sleep in the cab of my truck over night as tractor trailers shake my truck blowing by us inches away. It starts storming. I can see this is gonna hell on wheels.

Fast forward. It is the 4th of July weekend before the the 4th of July. Most places are closed. I unload my bike from the trailer and start the parts hunt. I pull into Benton Arkansas. The Napa store is closed. I get some grade 8 bolts from Home Depot and some grade 8 nuts and try a jury rig repair on my trailer. Using my spare tire. I found my lost tire in the median of the freeway. It's mounting holes were wallowed out.

Loaded up my bike. We made 20 or so miles. Sparks fly. I look out the window. I see my wheel rolling in the ditch beside the truck. I am totally befuddled. I figure I am in a bad bad spot of the universe. Everything is closed. It is 98F with 98 % humidity. Miserable outside weather or a desert rat like me. I get a room at the local Econolodge for Paul and me.

I tell Paul I am thinking of going back to Texas. I'll rent a Uhaul trailer. Throw my Bike into the bed of my truck. Throw my trailer on the Uhaul trailer. He can continue to West Virginia on his bike. So we go to the lobby and have a cup of coffee. Paul looks out the window and notices a small trailer parked in one of the spaces in the parking lot and mentions it to the motel manager at the Desk.

The motel manager says," Yes. That is my trailer."

I say," How would you like to make a 100 bucks?"

He asks how. I explain my situation and how I would like to rent his trailer andf continue to West Virginia. He says sure. He has all my personal info. Plus he likes what we are doing and we are considered honest folk. So now. Plan B kicks in and we continue to West Virgina with a different trailer.

I had a good time but things just kept on breaking or going bad for me personally. My speedo needle broke on my bike. My Bendix died on my electric starter . My tent blew over from a bad storm in West Virgina. All my gear was soaked. Temps at night in the mountains was at 40 F. This old boys stamina was tested on this run.

Here are pictures below in my next post.

__{{emoticon}}__ Rok

Wow roky, that was some trip! In the UK, and most of Western Europe, everything is so close together that you are never far from help.

Hope you're safely home now.

Chris

Me in all my glory



Notice I am almost as tall as the other biker standing up while I am sitting down.



Me putting a drunk member on his ass. He was feeling froggy.



It was nothing serious. Just us acting like 12 year old kids.

Made it home with none of the drama I encountered on the way there.
My jury rig shady tree fix on my trailer held together from where I left it Arkansas to my house in West Texas. The rest of this summer will be me rebuilding my trailer once again with new parts from a trailer supply and a car junk yard. So home safe and sound now.

Glad you made it there & back in one piece, even if you did have some problems. __{{emoticon}}__

Got your priorities right with that T-shirt. __{{emoticon}}__

You are the 'spitting image' of your avatar __{{emoticon}}__