Wild Motorcycle Tales - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Wild Motorcycle Tales

Here's a great story from Deb. Got your own story? Send it to me.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Every once in a while in life, opportunity knocks; and no matter what, you just have to answer. At least I do.

The company I work for has an office in New Hampshire, and one of the women who works there recently married a man who rides, so when they came to Florida for their honeymoon last October, we made arrangements to meet in Daytona at Biketoberfest. I only spent a few hours with them, so you can imagine my surprise at their insistence that I come up to New Hampshire for Laconia Bike Week. I've been to all of the "big" bike events, but never thought I'd have the chance to go to Laconia. What better opportunity than to go with someone who lives there??

Making the decision to go was a tough one. I had to figure out how to get myself and my bike (my only bike ever; a '96 Heritage Softail I bought brand new) up there on a "shoestring" budget. Being a woman, and with many warnings received from friends about the northern traffic, riding by myself was not an option. So I borrowed an open trailer from a friend, and in spite of my trepidation about the condition of the trailer tires, hit the open road in my pickup truck with bike in tow, way excited about my trip!

I had plotted a course where I would stop at my daughter's in Jacksonville, then at a friend's in South Carolina, and from there a mid-point overnight stay in Fredericksburg, Virginia, the only place I'd need a hotel room. I didn't even make it to Jacksonville before the "service engine" light came on in the truck. No problem; my son-in-law insisted I leave my truck there and take their new Honda Ridgeline. Now I'm stylin'!

On the road again next morning, made the scheduled stop in South Carolina with no problems. Had some "real" southern barbecue (which means hash and rice for those that don't know) and left early the next day for the next leg of the trip. Things were going so smoothly I almost kept going past my scheduled stop in Fredericksburg, but after driving all day I was ready for a drink and some dinner.

Pulled into the hotel, discovered there was nowhere right there to eat, so I got into the truck again and drove a few blocks to Ruby Tuesday's. After dinner, I took the service road back to the hotel, and heard a distinct "clunking" coming from the trailer. Looked in the rear view mirror, and saw the left wheel of the trailer wobbling to the point of almost coming off! At this point I was right around the corner from the hotel, but pulled right into an Exxon "convenience store" station to assess the situation. Looked at the wheel, saw a big "chunk" missing, and decided to call AAA. Dialed the number, and then realizing I had no idea where I was, hung up and walked into the store to find out where I was. Upon hearing my dilemma, my second "rescuer" (a very young clerk employed there) volunteered his tools and services to help change what I thought was a bad rim. Unfortunately, his wrench did not fit the lug nuts, and after several inquiries of customers at the pumps, I managed to borrow the proper wrench. Even more unfortunate was the discovery that it was not the rim that was damaged, it was the axle hub. At that point, I thanked my store clerk friend, and asked if I could leave the trailer and truck there overnight, as there was obviously not going to be a quick resolution to the problem. I now had no choice but to "call home" in the hopes that someone would be able to help.

As luck would have it, the friend I borrowed the trailer from (much to my amazement) had a friend right there in Fredericksburg, and although he was working that night, he offered to come over the next morning. He arrived at 8 a.m. and after hours of searching for parts (and much anxiety on my part), a new axle, hubs and tires were installed on the trailer, and at 1 p.m., I was on the road again. What angel was looking out for me, not only that help was right there, but that I had stopped before the wheel might have come flying off at 75 mph??

I arrived at my friend's house in Nashua, New Hampshire at 11:15 p.m., and after socializing a bit, turned in for the night and readied myself for the "Big Day."

We unloaded my bike and put it in their toy hauler with their bike, and headed north for the one-hour trip to Laconia. They had planned ahead of time to park the camper in the driveway of a condo that some of their friends had rented for the weekend, so we were all set. I had my bike serviced before I left home, including a new battery, so I knew I wasn't going to have any problems. Little did I know the "fun" had just begun.

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