Nearing the departure time ...

If you read the top of the blog site you may recall that this blog started after our first long motorcycle trip  was drastically shorten due to our best dog, Hero, was hit by a car on the nearby highway.  It was a Wednesday, four days from departure Day of Saturday.  We ended up going to Atlanta to visit my sister and family instead of the Great West.  It was a good trip and we spent the rest of the month helping Hero mend.

Well, Hero is fine, and no other dogs were used in this experience, but the bike is not running.  The 40-something year old bike is fine except for the ignition system which is a 'new' electronic system.  I have not yet determined the cause and solution, so it may be a wire I didn't fasten securely when I rewired a major portion a month or so ago, but we will soon know the cause.

It seems that I may be programmed for last minute failures.  I am OK with that as the failure always results in some high quality relational activity.  Oh, and my third HTC Desire cell phone went belly up during this weekend as well - another technology failure.  The carrier chose to send me a better phone, more about that when it comes...

In this case the failure occurred on the way to teach a MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) class in Tazewell County, Virginia.  Thirty miles from the college the bike just quit.  As I thought about the probable failure scenarios, a car pulled over and a guy jumped out who said "Hi Ron, remember me?"

I did not, but it was Scott, a student in a class five years ago.  And he was an off-duty deputy sheriff.  He helped me push the bike up a driveway to a safe spot near an industrial building, then called to see if an on-duty deputy could give me a ride to class.  That worked, and I arrived in style -- in a police car.  Had the ignition not failed I'd have missed that adventure!

A student in the class offered to drop me off and pick me up at the motel and to take me to the bike on Saturday evening after class to try and fix it.  We were unable to make on-site repairs to get it running, so my wife drove up on Sunday and along with the MSF coordinator, we got the bike on my until then unused trailer.  It is home now and I am working on it. I have all the parts because a good friend just bought the same electrical kit and offered to let me use the parts to determine what it needs to run again.

I am still planning the whole trip, but it somewhat depends on how the ignition system repairs go.  There might be a delay in getting on the road, and I may, as a last resort, take another bike.

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LESSON LEARNED:

• Breath deeply and think.  
• Give God a chance to work it out.  
• Realize that the people who intervene are vital to your time on Earth.  
• Be thankful that no dogs were injured in the process.