Trouble on America's Loneliest Hwy.

[Singl Malt]

It all started last spring when I got word that I would have to spend several months in California (Bay Area), so I decided to ride my R1150 RT out there. Imagine spending the weekends in Napa and the costal Hwy. I planned my trip, check tires, oil, and shipped 7 boxes of clothes/stuff to my hotel. I would travel light and leave July 30

On July 1st I had to take some vacation time so I thought why not ride up to Hartford CT and visit my sister then on my way home stop at the BMW rally in Kingsport TN. After all it's kinda on the way. This trip was about 2000 miles or more.

July 29. (Wed.)Head out and drove through TN,KY,IL,MO and KS. Spend the night somewhere west of KC. (Thur) The next day I rode from KS, to Colorado Springs CO. (Fri) Spend day and a half visiting my Mother and other Sister. (Sat)Headed out of the Springs and drove through the Rockies and into Utah/Nevada. It was hot as hell in Utah but beautiful desert! When I planned my route I wanted to stay on back roads from Colorado to California, so I ended up on Rt 50 "America's Loneliest Hwy" in NV. I got into Ely NV around dinner time with a few more hours of light and decided to keep going on to the next town. I was half way between Ely and Eureka when I pulled over to put my lowers on as it gets chilly in the desert at night. I did my usual walk around the bike to check things out when I saw CORD showing through on my rear tire. I was doomed! There is no traffic, no towns, and no cell signal. Even the edge of the road fell away quick, so if I had to pull over I would be in trouble. I continued on to Eureka at half speed just waiting for the tire to pop. I limped into Eureka at about 9pm. The place was dead and the sidewalks rolled up. I found a room at one of the two hotels in town went to the bar next door and had a few tall cold beers with cheesy nachos as they stopped serving food 15 min ago. I had noticed a classic 1956 Ford pickup in the hotel parking lot and as I was asking around for motorcycle services, this guy mentioned that he had the Ford and was heading to Reno for Hot August Nights. I mentioned to him that I would be willing to pay someone with an empty pickup truck heading west to haul my bike. (His could not handle the load) I called my insurance; naturally they couldn't find my records... but the only way to Reno would be to get a tow truck from Fallon. The round trip cost would be about $1200.00 (note: my insurance has $50.00 tow coverage)

Let me stop here for a moment. Remember the extra 2000 miles I put on going to Hartford? I forgot to calculate those miles for the CA trip. Originally I had enough tread to get to CA then get Oil and new tires. Ya I felt stupid for allowing myself for getting into this situation.

Sunday morning I am on the phone with the tow service and trying to comprehend the $1200.00 fee, when I get a knock at my door. I'm thinking "it's early, clean my room later" but it was the hotel manager is saying "Are you the guy with motorcycle trouble?" I opened the door and he is standing there with two other guys, "These two are willing to give you a ride to Carson City, interested"? I ran back to the phone and told the tow truck driver "I'll call you if I need you".

In the hotel parking lot is an old diesel 4x4 pickup with about 300,000 miles on it. The bed of the truck is waist high. I look at the bike then at the bed, how do we get the bike up to the bed? I walk around the parking lot and notice that in the rear of the building next door we could back the truck up to a hill and be able to drive right onto the bed! Wow what luck. Now we need tie downs. Remember it is Sunday morning in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The gas station is open, I walk in and check out a half dozen empty shelves then spot the last two heavy duty tie downs with ratchets! So the bike is on the truck and tied down. There are eyelets screwed into the sides of the truck for tying things down, but the sides of the truck wobble. We cinch things down but I am wary of the eyelets. The three of us start off for Carson City, mile after mile of empty road. You could drive on the wrong side for 20 min without any oncoming traffic... Every few min. I would rubber neck and check the bike, straps and eyelets. The guy in the passenger seat was doing the same. Then "Stop the truck, don't turn..." I look back and one of the eyelets was hanging by a few machine screw threads. We stop the truck in the middle of the road; I jump into the bed and get on the bike, holding it up. We re-strap the bike, this time to the frame under the truck. (No cars pass this whole time)

It turns out that these guys were going from Ely to Carson City with an empty truck so they could get stuff out of a storage unit. They stopped in Eureka for fuel when the guy in the 56 Ford was filling up too and mentioned that there was a fella with a motorcycle willing to pay for a trip west. These guys looked like they stepped right out of the desert; I suspect you would avoid them if you saw them in a bar.

Anyway, Jim and Larry knew of a Honda dealer in Carson City where I could be dropped off and get service first thing Monday morning. We rolled up to the dealer "Closed Mondays". These guys had to load their truck and drive all the way back to Ely so I said just unload me and I will figure out the rest. Humm how do we unload? We drove around looking for a spot that would work, and we found a ditch next to a parking lot. We backed into the ditch, borrowed a plank from a construction site and rolled the bike off to the parking lot. I thanked them and parted company.

There I was on a Sunday afternoon in Carson City with a bald but functional rear tire. Reno was only 30 miles away and has more services, even a BMW dealer (closed Mondays). I called around and found that the Honda dealer was open on Monday. I plugged the address into my GPS and started out (slowly) for Reno. I drove straight to the Honda dealer W/O a problem then found a hotel two blocks away.

Monday morning I was at the dealer’s front door 10 min before they opened. By 10 am I was back on the road with a brand new Metzler, the service tech even washed my bike! You can imagine all the bugs, rain, dirt that I collected from TN to NV. I felt good, a clean bike, full tank, and deep tread on my rear tire. I went on to the Bay Area CA. and even put a few hours of work on Monday.

I did not have the amount of cash on me to "reward" my new found pickup truck friends, but I remembered where he worked. I Googled his work and finally found them, got an address and sent them both some money for their troubles.

So, many thanks to my desert friends willing to help out a stranger in need!

 

 

[EddyQ]

Glad it worked out. What a story. Thanks for sharing.

What kind of tires did you have? I've heard a few cases where Met Z6's show cords quick.

[Dave39]

Quite a story. I've been on that lonely road and can appreciate your plight.

Good read...there with you...congrats on not getting stranded in the middle of the desert!

[Duane n Oregon]

As I read more Ride Tales and take more trips myself, I am pleasantly surprised with the stories of strangers helping people out for no reason other than to be kind. I experienced it this summer after dropping my bike in a parking lot in a small town on a trip this summer. The passenger peg broke off, and I was riding two up at the time. A stranger came over and ended up going home to his shop and coming back with a railroad spike with a hole perfectly drilled so the spike could be put on in place of the broken peg. Creative solution and a generous act. I bet I had the only RT with a railroad spike for a footpeg!

[Paul Mihalka]

First off, Singl Malt (can't go wrong with that name), welcome to this group of friends. Your story is a wonderful introduction!

I also did have opportunity to be blessed by the helpfulness of total strangers. Like spending a night on a farmer's couch (but without the daughter )

 

[Rinkydink]

Welcome to the board Singl Malt. Quite a story and adventure.

[ltljohn]

Welcome to the board. That's quite an adventure tale for a first post. Glad everything worked out for you.

[beemerman2k]

Welcome to the board, Dude! You'll definitely find yourself among "birds of a feather" here. Always wanted to ride the 50 through Nevada myself. Now I know, show up prepared! Thanks