Well we woke up this morning & it was a beautiful morning. So as planned we warmed up the bikes, routed our ride, ate some breakfast, & off we go. The road was smooth & curvy, the sun was shining, it couldn't be better. We came across a river bed spanned by a railroad trestle & Mary saw a photo op(see Facebook in the next few days) so we stopped. Click, click, click, & back on the bikes. I start mine, vroom, & Mary starts hers, click, click, click. It won't start! We wait & it still won't start!! Here we are out in the middle of nowhere so we call road service. At first we can't figure out where we are. Once that problem is solved the soonest a low voltage/motorcycle jump can get there is an hour. Oh well...so we wait & decide we will laugh about this at a later date. The little bit of local rural traffic is friendly, they stop & ask if we are OK & move on when we tell them we are waiting on road service. On hour later we call road service & it is going to be 15 minutes more. 20 minutes later it will be 5 more minutes. The tow truck comes & doesn't have a low voltage jump. I don't care just try & start the &$^*^#@ thing. It won't start. He says he will send out a trailer that can tow the bike to a shop in town(WHAT TOWN?) but it will be at least 30 minutes more. OK(sigh). We wait. We start to recognize some of the cars & people passing by. Some stop & chat. One couple tells us if we get started to come by their place & hop in the pool since we have been standing out in the heat. The high was probably 80 degrees. Another gentleman says to stop by his store & he will fix us up with some sweet tea. We are amazed at how friendly people are when you leave the dog-eat-dog city/suburban areas.
And then comes Monte. He passed us earlier on his bike & stopped on the return trip. First he told us about a reputable bike repair shop & then he says he will be right back with a volt meter to check the battery. 5 minutes later our guardian angel, Monte, is back. We check the battery & it isn't completely dead. He pulls out jumper cables & 2 bottles of iced tea. He is instantly upgraded to Saint Monte! The jump doesn't work so he says lets wait & see if the jump will charge the battery a little. A few minutes go by & VROOM!!!! He won't take anything & in a cloud of dust and a "See Y'all" our hero is gone. Road sevice can take a lesson.
2 hours have passed & we don't want to chance the bike not starting again so we head home & try to find a new battery. A dozen calls later & the only place open after noon on a Saturday with a battery is 45 miles away in Charlottesville. Pull out the old batteries(I decide mine is on it's last legs also) & into the truck to Charlottesville. Now we are hungry so we stop & have dinner. Back home I install the batteries & both bikes start like there is lightning in "them thar batteries". I guess they both really did need replacing. It has been a long day. We had time to just sit & talk, we met some really nice people(especially Monte), & I got something to blog about. If the weather cooperates we will try again tomorrow. Until then we are home safe & sound in Greenville because.....
Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary
Oh MY .. I'm worn-out just reading about your problem -- Yeh! Monte --- John just said,"Bless his old Army 45 -- if you could jump hard enough they started"!! Happy Day %+) & ;+) smiles
ReplyDeleteGlad everything worked out ok! Alisha enjoyed the story especially when the bike went VROOM! lol
ReplyDeleteGlad it all worked out for ya in the end. Not fun breaking down in the middle of nowhere..at least you had decent but hot weather to wait in. We broke down last year coming back from Florida..trailer with mom's old appliances on it got a flat in the "good tire" and the spare was already on the other tire..sigh...60 miles to the nearest down, pouring rain, 10 pm at night, and on the interstate where semis are going about 90 past you. Kids were crying that we were all going to die..not if I can help it!..and I prayed so hard going down the road on two flat trailer tires at 40 mph. We made it to the Wal-Mart only to find out they quit carrying those tires due to lack of interest but gave us some hotels to look into..all at about $200 a night!!
ReplyDeleteEnd of story..John found a junk yard on his third venture out and the "angel" sold us two tires in great condition for $20.00..whew!!
This year..no trailer or camper!!! I want a relaxing trip :0)
Julie