I herded mine up and down the road today
Today was a great day for a ride. Clear and sunny.
A neighbor and I had planned to ride over to the Buffalo River and get fabulously wealthy treasure hunting with metal detectors.
The ride over was about as good as it gets. not too much traffic and the most of what traffic there was was other bikes. The only down side to the ride over was the metal detector catching wind on Lewis's handle bar and slapping him up side the head each time he got up to speed. We had only planned to spend a couple of hours on the river due to the heat and after about a couple of hours we were ready to go. The heat and humidity was killer. I snapped a few pictures and we saddled up for a short ride back to Kingston to gas up then on to Marble to eat lunch.The ride back up the mountain was sweet. Lewis's Sportster and my Tilley were purring right along. In no time we were on top of the mountain and lining out the rest of the run to Kingston. Falling in behind about a dozen or so bikes, I noticed that there were about twice as many as there were on our trip down. Pulling into Kingston we snaked our way around the other bikes as they tried to sort out which way they needed to go. As I leaned back onto hwy 21 to the gas station I had a strange sensation hit my right hand. An odd kind of tingling mixed with a dose of "oh crap". I rolled on the throttle and the grip twisted but the engine stayed at an idle. Now I'm no expert but this cant be good. I coasted across the road and into the parking lot of the Post Office in greater downtown Kingston, Arkansas. A post office with an asphalt parking lot and no shade in what felt like 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity.
For the next couple of hours we tried several things to get me a throttle. All we really managed to do was burn. Finally after the fishing sinker trick failed, we decided to check out an Antique/Junk shop next door to cool off and maybe find something that would get me back on the road. As we looked around we were checking our cell phones for a signal. Both of us said at the same time "no signal" when Lewis's phone rang. I hollered "hang up and call this number"!! He did and we got the Calvary on the way. I kept looking around while Lewis went to call his sister back. As I was looking at tools Lewis hollered for me to come back outside. He had a pair of vice grip pliers and wanted to know what I thought. He had gotten the pliers from the guy at the post office. This guy even produced a few large zip ties. I tied the cable end to the master cylinder and clamped the pliers to the broken cable end. Thumb drive.
For the next couple of hours we tried several things to get me a throttle. All we really managed to do was burn. Finally after the fishing sinker trick failed, we decided to check out an Antique/Junk shop next door to cool off and maybe find something that would get me back on the road. As we looked around we were checking our cell phones for a signal. Both of us said at the same time "no signal" when Lewis's phone rang. I hollered "hang up and call this number"!! He did and we got the Calvary on the way. I kept looking around while Lewis went to call his sister back. As I was looking at tools Lewis hollered for me to come back outside. He had a pair of vice grip pliers and wanted to know what I thought. He had gotten the pliers from the guy at the post office. This guy even produced a few large zip ties. I tied the cable end to the master cylinder and clamped the pliers to the broken cable end. Thumb drive.
It worked. We pulled out and headed on to the gas station. After topping off we ordered burgers and decided to wait on my rescue party in the air conditioning.
About the time we finished the burgers my friend Luther arrived with tools and my cables. I showed him what we had come up with and after much discussion I decided to try and make it back home with the pliers rather than try and change it out in the heat.
The next thirty seven miles were a blast! About a mile or so on the road the rain started. Heat showers. Cool and wet and felt great. It would rain for a mile or so then stop and the wind would dry you out. It did this five or six times before finally riding out of it. In addition to the rain the pliers would hit the kill switch when I got a little too carried away. I finally got it all sorted out and wound the old gal up and no moss grew under my backside.
As we pulled into town, Lewis headed to his house and I headed for Luther's shop to put my cables on.
Today was a good day. I had a good time, a good ride , and realised (again) that God has blessed me with great friends.
110 miles. Several bottles of "sparking spring water" and generally a good time. Oh yeah! One rusty looking penny. One 1/8 ounce lead sinker and one gold tone cross ink pen. catch ya on the road
