It was Saturday morning, July 11th, a day that would turn out to be both not so good and yet blessed by good Samaritans.
Wayne and I met Jason at the HEB parking lot. The plan was for Wayne and me to ride with Jason on the first leg of his vacation ride to Colorado. We were to meet at 6:15 and leave at 6:30am. We would all ride together to Abilene, TX (180 miles one way) where we would stop for an early lunch. Then Wayne and I would ride back to Waco while Jason rode on toward his destination, somewhere in Colorado.
Sticking to the schedule, we headed out highway 84 towards Gatesville, TX. We were surprised when we saw a Goldwing motorcycle that looked a lot like the wing that Wayne was riding, parked on the side of highway 84. There was no one with the bike, it must have broken down.
Now it is not unusual to see a bike broke down on the side of the road, but it is very unusual to see a Goldwing.
I now believe, this is where the trouble began. Wayne commented that his bike would probably break down some day, as it had about 80,000 miles on it and the generator on the older Goldwing’s often go bad after about 60,000 mile. He noted that he “might” be riding on borrowed time.
All went well for a couple hours of riding. We had even stopped for a short break and then resumed the ride. Back on the road all was well for a couple miles then I noticed that Wayne had slowed down some and seemed to be doing something to the controls of the bike.
I being a smarty pants, told him to stop texting and pay attention to the rode. We have CB radios and we are able to communicate while riding. Wayne said his cruise control had stopped working and it would not re-engage.
Thirty seconds later, the bike just stopped running and we pulled over to the side of the road. Even with the expertise of all three of our biker brains, we were not able to determine the exact cause, but Wayne thought it was the generator.
Each of us tried our cell phones but they would not work, as we were in the country and down in a valley.
We suggested that Jason should continue on to Colorado, we will find a solution to our situation. We all wished each other good luck and Jason bid us a farewell.
We discussed what to do, and it was decided that Wayne would walked over to a house that was about a football field away from the road (that is about 100 yards) and asked if he could leave his bike at their gate while we rode back to Waco on my bike to get a truck and trailer, then return and get the bike. I should note that we were 140 miles from Waco.
The couple from the farm said he could leave the bike there and they offered to jump start the bike if that would help. It couldn’t hurt Wayne thought. The bike started, we thanked the couple for their help and Wayne took off heading for the nearest town, which was 8 miles away.
I got on my bike and took off after Wayne. I would say he made it half to three quarters of a mile before the bike died again.
We were on top of a hill, and we now had cell phone service. Many Goldwing riders carry a book in their bike that list the name, location and phone numbers of all the Honda dealers. Wayne called the Honda dealer in Abilene TX, which was about 40 miles away, but they did not have a generator.
We then decided to look in the Gold Wing rider’s book to see if there was anyone (another Honda rider) close that might help. We found a person's name and phone number who lived 8 miles away. It was worth a try.
Wayne called this person and he said they would be happy to help. He and his wife came out with a trailer and we loaded the bike on the trailer.
This couple took Wayne and his motorcycle all the way back to Waco, TX, 140 mile one way, and would not accept any money, not even for gas. Wayne offered to buy their supper and the couple said thanks but no thanks. They asked Wayne to stop and help any biker he might see that is broke down on the side of the road.
This couple was too nice!
I rode the 140 miles home alone. I did stop for a burger at the DQ in Hamilton, TX.
May we all be as nice as that couple is!
Don Ford
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