Wendover UT to Stockton, CA – Woke up this morning for the home stretch ride home. I did my normal visual bike inspection and found that the left side rear tire had the braided threads showing through!!! There was also a gash close to the center of the tire. I must have ran over something but it didn’t puncture all the way through. This presented a problem as the dinky town we were in wouldn’t carry the tires I needed for the bike and probably didn’t have the services to do the tire change and balancing. We contacted our family Tudie and Louie and they confirmed that the Honda dealership in Reno NV had our tire and would be able to make the change out. The problem, we had to ride close to 400 miles. Looking at the tire I’d say we had about 1000 miles left before it was done. As long as I kept my speed down to 60MPH the tire shouldn’t get to hot, I’d be able to avoid road hazards and most importantly control the bike if the rear tire blew. Off we went…
Riding West on I-80 at 60MPH is like walking on the sidewalk and cars passing you, there is a huge difference in speed. So when I spotted this biker 360 miles later on the side of the road he stuck out like a sore thumb. The biker motto is to help a fellow biker in need so it didn’t even dawn on me to pass him by as others had before me. It turned out “Nathan” was on his way to the Yamaha V-Star rally and miscalculated his gas usage. After introductions and understanding the situation I decided to give him some of my gas as I had 3/4 of a tank left. We ended up pulling his reserve hose off to use as the siphoning tube. He had a styrofoam cup and started the process… cough, gag, tears, dry heave… this guy didn’t know how to syphon gas. When he was finally able to get a few teaspoons in the styrofoam cup Lorraine yelled “the bottom is coming off, it’s melting”
Well… that didn’t work out to good. We then tried a Gatorade bottle. Nathan went at it again…cough, gag, tears, dry heave, spit… It turned out he was storing mouthful of gas in his mouth and spitting it into the bottle!!! At this point I did what any biker would do. I asked Lorraine to start taking pictures of him! LOL!!! I watched him for a few more minutes and when he gave up I took the hose, gave a slight suck, pointed the hose down into the bottle and filled it up. Yeah, I have experience in syphoning gas. Once we had a couple of bottles worth of gas into his tank we took off for the gas station. As luck would have it we made it with no problems, he said his thanks and we left on our way to Reno. 40 miles to go!
Sometimes you have to let a pro do it!
We arrived in Reno NV with plenty of time to spare as the service department closed at 6pm. We had both the front and rear tires replaced as they were going to need it once we got home. It’s better to be safe then have regrets later. The photo below is inside the Reno Honda Dealership, the Goldwing is ready to roll!
I’ll need to figure out how much the total cost for gas was for the whole trip. The last gas stop for iRide!
We rode 608 miles today. Back in Stockton!!! WE MADE IT!!!
I must say, this had to be one of my greatest accomplishments. As a biker, it has always been in the back of mind if I was able to ride across the country. A ride of this magnitude is both physically and mentally challenging. Your riding skills need to be locked down for all the unexpected road conditions that may come up, there is no chance for error, zero. I’m responsible for the safety of my wife and riding partner Lorraine.
I’ve ridden through the blistering 110 degree temperatures of the Mojave Desert, watched the spectacular sun rise across the deserts in Arizona. I’ve seen the glowing red rock formations as I entered New Mexico and amazing thunder and lightning as we left. I’ve ridden the high wind deserts of Texas and the congested freeways of Dallas. I was able to experience the plush forestry landsscape entering Louisiana right after a late afternoon rain fall. I’ve cruised along the Southern highways of Mississippi and Alabama. I glided along the Florida coastlines and then its long sweeping curves as I headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve seen the amazing grassy hills of Arkansas and ridden the high plains of the Oklahoma panhandle for miles and miles. I was able to climb to elevations a mile high into the Colorado Rocky Mountains and down to the Salt Lake Flats. I rode the peaks of Western Nevada on my way home to the San Joaquin Valley.
This has been a journey of a lifetime. This was all made possible by my wife Lorraine. Having my partner in life beside me every mile of the way, experiencing the moments together made my 50th birthday bucket list iRide all it could possibly be. I love you and appreciate everything you did for me. Thank you Mami, we accomplished this journey together.
States we travelled through:
California
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Colorado
Utah
Texas
Total Miles:
6,637
