Sturgis Rally
Thursday, Day 2
home
The 2008 Journey
Highlights of the day
Repair Day, pretty much says it all. We started out knowing we had 43 miles to go to get me a new front time. When we got to Jasper, AL we were told that it was not a normal tire and they didn't have one. So they called ahead to Tupelo, MS and found the tire. Just another 100 miles, we can be there in two hours (we hope). I was pretty disappointed in the fact that I had just had the bike in the shop and they said it was good to go. We pulled into the dealership right around 11:30. The mechanic had just gone to lunch. Now you got to wonder, what were they thinking? They knew we were coming and we were right on time too. Even called them 10 miles away to get directions off the highway. But there was a fellow there, Dave, who said he would take care of it while we got some lunch. So we get on the bikes to go to a restaurant down the street. Shirley had other plans. Seems there is a bad spot in the starter and if we just push it around the lot, we can pop start it. NOT !!!!!!!! So after watching these guys push this full dresser around the parking lot a couple of times, they decided to jump start it. Hey, what do you know, it started. Now we got a battery problem. The closest Harley Dealer is in Memphis, TN so on our way we got to get a new battery for Shirley.
On the way there, Tricky is having problems again with his bike. It's acting like there is a clog in the fuel line. Spitting, sputtering. So we pull over, let it idle for a while and then it seems fine to continue. We pulled into Memphis and found the Harley Dealer around 2pm. Shirley goes directly into the back and gets a new battery. Nope..... that's not the problem. It's a gremlin in the electrical system. Ricky has his bike inside also and he and Dennis are pretty much conducting major open tank surgery. The service desk waiting room looked like an Operating Room. Shirley comes out of the back and ready to roll out of the shop and the mechanic hands Allen a screwdriver. If it doesn't start, just push this into the starter and crank it and it will fire right up. Ricky's bike seems to be running better and about 5:30 we roll out of Bruce Rossmeyers' dealership.
Once outside, we hear KA BOOM! The sky turned suddenly black but we're still anxious to get back on the road and make up some of our lost time. How much of a bad idea this was going to be was no one's guess. OK, so we're going to get wet. Just as we got onto I55 in Memphis, it started coming down in buckets. We immediately pulled under the first overpass and all put on the rain gear. "We can do this" we said. Just as we pulled out from under the bridge it came down and came down in buckets. Slowed us and all the cars down to a crawl. You could not see the car in front of you. So we made it around one ramp and the winds from what felt like 50 mph, hit us from the side. We all scooted under the next overpass like rats. It is a wonder we all made it under the overpass without incident with the visibility at about 10 feet and it being rush hour traffic. There was already one squid (guy on a crotch rocket) hiding out there and then here come the 5 of us, crowding in on his space. We're parked two wide under this single lane bridge and up against the concrete barrier. The first truck by, sprayed a wall of water all over us. It was like going to the water park in Daytona and having the bucket drop a 1000 gallons on your head. Ricky scooted on down to the next bridge and had it all to himself. After about 45 minutes of waiting it out and getting sprayed and dripped on, we ventured out once again. We made it about a mile up the road. Phil had taken off with the fellow on the crotch rocket and gone on ahead. We came to a halt and figured there was a pretty good sized accident to stop 3 lanes of traffic. But we were sitting on top of a bridge, moving nowhere, and now lightning was striking all around us. We were getting very nervous. We moved on a little more and a trucker told us that it wasn't an accident..... it was a flash blood and the Interstate was underwater. Now we're sitting on top of this bridge, we pulled out bikes to the side and are sitting on top of the edge of the bridge, just watching the cars and trucks creep by. We looked over the side of the bridge down into a gas station only to see a tractor trailer slowly moving through water that was deeper than his axle. Ricky and Dennis are doing some sort of rendition of "Singing in the Rain", Dennis sacheting down he side of the road, entertaining the cars and trucks stuck with us on the bridge. I'm sure all those people thought we were absolutely nuts or on drugs. But we started this adventure and one rule was... No matter what happened, we were going to laugh about it! And laugh about it we did. We devised a plan to scoot down the shoulder along side the creeping traffic to the next on-ramp and go down the wrong way and look for a hotel. It is now about 7pm (yeah, we sure got far). We're soaked, tired, and called the day a total loss. The officer at the top of the on-ramp gave us directions to a gas station where we could locate a hotel and did not seem to mind our traffic violation under the circumstances. When we went down the ramp, we got to the bottom and it was flooded too. But we managed our way across and there were probably fish swimming between the spokes of our wheels.
When we got to the gas station, a fellow was kind enough to give us directions to the new bridge across the Mississippi, we just had to go downtown Memphis to do it. But about 20 minutes later we were in Arkansas and on our merry way again. About 15 miles down the road we realized that we should be on a different highway. So we pull over and try to figure out how we passed the exit. We saw the sign, but not the exit. How does that happen? Now we're trying to figure out how to recover from this minor derailment. It was decided that since it was nearly 8pm and getting dark, we would find a room and then get a fresh start in the morning. All of our plans this day have failed, I don't know what makes us think this one is going to be a good one either. Down the road we go again, not eve 10 miles and SHIRLEY throws off the shifter rod onto the road. We hobble her into the closest rest area. Here is Ricky with his miners headlight and Dennis on the ground trying to figure out how to rig it with a set of vice grips that Allen can use to shift this bike until we can get a new shifter rod. Well Allen is just going to have to tough it out for a few more miles.
A few more miles down the road, we find a few hotels..... the first, No Vacancy. The one next door..... No Vacancy. Ok, next...... One room, two double beds. Allen and Dennis look at each other and fire up their bikes.... I guess that is a NO! One more hotel to try. I'm pretty discouraged and ready to get back on the highway for the next exit, but OH NO... the guys have to try this one too. What makes them think that with all the rest being full that this one would have a vacancy? Let alone 3 vacancies? Well low and behold they did. But there was a reason for that. You should have seen some of the clientele hanging around the office, and that was only the beginning.
they put us all in the back of the hotel. Problem was, it was full of work trucks. Dennis found his room, it was an ashtray. Allen found his and he was at the end of the building. We found ours.... and there was someone it in already. Ricky went back to the front desk to get a different room, the girl gave him the one she just rented to Allen. He said, "You just rented that one to my buddy". So she put us in the front side of the hotel. When we pulled our bikes in, 3 doors opened up to see what was going on. Not a good sign here. One was a little girl who looked out and the next thing we heard was "Close that F***G door you little B***ch and get in here". Our room was full of mosquitoes and it took us an hour to get that under control. The yelling next door continued for about 4 hours. The guy more than likely passed out around 1am and all was quiet. Dennis and Allen got on their bikes and rode down to McDonalds for a late night meal, we were too tired to go with them. When Dennis got back, there was 8 guys in the parking lot grilling out on a Hibachi and they must have drunk several cases of beer too. Dennis got to sleep probably about the same time we did.
Some photos from today's adventure
 |
 |
 |
| Leaving Birmingham |
A big push |
Let it rain! |
More Photos from this trip
The Sturgis Journey of 2008
Copyright 2002-2012
A Blonde Moment Marketing, LLC
PO Box 352034
Palm Coast, FL 32135-2034
Email: The Blonde
All information contained herein is deemed correct but is not warranted or guaranteed.
A Blonde Moment's marketing creations:
A Blonde Moment Marketing | Artistic Designs By Ricky, Inc | YardSalesz.com