Eventful Ending to a Great Seattle Trip

Well, I should have known things were going to well on this trip! ;-)

I was thoroughly enjoying my ride home. Took a nice ride down the coast, stopping at a few casinos for a little entertainment. Everything was going great. Then, I hit California.

I stopped for gas and made a few phone calls. At my next stop, some 180 miles later, I reached for my phone (my brand new, Motorola RAZR phone that I bought before I rode to Seattle) and found my velcro pocket on my riding pants open and my phone gone. OK, so I need to call the phone insurance company and get a new one. No big deal.

150 miles later, as I near Solvang, I pulled to the side of the highway to put my jacket on -- Friday night at 5pm. As I downshift my bike, the shifter falls off. This happened once before, oddly enough on the ride home from the All Crew training in Phoenix. This time, I know how to fix it. Two zip ties and 5 minutes later, I am back on the road. Now I have a zip tied motorcycle and no cell phone. Probably shouldn't ride much further tonight. I decided to head over to Lompoc where I know of a bike shop and a hotel.

Saturday morning I head over to the bike shop and they adopt me immediately. For $25 they fix my shift rod ends and I am back to factory standard on the bike. Time to call this ride done and get home. Unfortunately, the traffic on the 101 was terrible the heat challenging. I made it to the top of the Sepulveda Pass on I-405 when I noticed that my Check Engine light was on. Damn. OK, let's get off this hill, out of traffic and down to Bartel's Harley to get it checked out. Then my Volt meter showed zero. Then my Odometer went blank. Oh, how exciting.

I made it do Marina Del Rey and to within 4 blocks of the dealership before the battery ran out. Now, on the side of the road without a cell phone, I start looking for a solution. Hey, look there! Across the street from my breakdown spot is a Cingular Store. They let me call the dealer and the service department went beyond the call of duty by sending a personal truck out to get me and my bike.

Now the bike is in Marina del Rey being repaired and I am home thanks to my son.

The only thing left to do is get my phone replaced. Of course, according to Cingular, I don't have insurance on that phone (apparently they didn't even offer it when they sold me the phone three weeks ago) so I have to buy a new phone now. How exciting again!

Well, folks, that wraps up the Seattle event. Next event on my calendar, San Diego in October.