Day three of our ride up to Sturgis dawned clear with a brilliant blue sky and we were up early, ready to hit the road and make some serious miles. Jeff Decker was also heading for Sturgis in his van, bike and bronze statues in the back, along with Hippodrome Studio merchandise and he kindly offered to take our gear. The plan was that he would stick with us for the day and when we pulled up for the night he’d give us back our gear and drive on to the Black Hills.
So we loaded our stuff in his van and wheeled our bikes out of Jeff’s garage. Bingo! – We meet today’s obstacle, a flat tire on the Flattie. Turned out to be a nail that had penetrated both the tire and the inner tube. So we pump some air into it and headed down to Legends Vintage Motorcycles in Springville (“Vintage Motorcycles” – how handy!) while Jeff rings Scott from Vintage to meet us there.
Scott arrived, opened up and Billy pulled his wheel off, the ‘wheel-that-will-never-rust.' In no time Scott had the tire off and was searching around for the right size tube which, being the aforesaid Vintage shop they had it in stock. Once he located one it is only minutes to fit it.
Jeff assisted Billy to refit the wheel and we were, as Willie Nelson sings, ‘On the road again’.
Jeff lead the way from the bike shop to one of Utah’s many canyons and then lets us go on ahead. With some mist still in the air and the sun just warming up we begin a great day’s riding, mental fingers crossed against encountering any more hassles.
So relatively light and manageable the bikes had become that they didn’t even seem to need a guiding hand on the bars, eagerly heading toward Sturgis like puppies fresh off the leash.
Gradually, however, the sky began to darken and we could smell rain in the air and began to wonder if this was our second trial by fire (water?) for the day.
Fortunately, our luck had changed and the storm veered off to the side and we were back in bright sunshine again which meant it was time for a few more pictures to be taken.
And why not? We were enjoying the ride and now that things seemed to be going smoothly we were in no hurry at all. We crushed the outlaw curse that had been throwing various problems our way, and I for one was filled with confidence that the rest of the trip would be a doddle. Hmm, maybe that wasn’t the best mind set to have at that point . . .
We stopped somewhere for gas and encountered a detour but Jeff led us through it with no problems and it was back out on the road again.
I found it interesting to watch other riders pass Billy. Posers, yuppies, weekend warriors, latter-day Harley owners would all sweep on past with barely a look across at Billy’s UL. Down the track they’d probably wonder where the oil mist came from; that is if they recognized it as oil at all. “My gel’s gone all funny Rupert . . .”
“Try not to cry darling, I’ll shampoo your hair in the spa tonight.”Bikers, on the other hand would slow down to take a good look and nod approvingly, often one suspects, with a touch of envy, before accelerating past again.
It was impossible not to grow fond of that old Flattie as the miles rolled by, the motor never missing a beat. Sure Billy would drop down to 50 or 55 mph up a steep hill, but then hit 70-75 going down the other side and we averaged over 60mph most of the time.
The only time it stopped was for gas and oil. At one gas stop I asked Billy, “How often do you change the oil?” With a hint of a smile and a sideways glance at me Billy replied, “Never Doc, I just keep adding it and that means it’s always running on fresh oil.”
The lines of the 2008 Road King were designed as a modern day “classic”. Yet I wonder how they will hold up 60 years from now? Yes folks, do the math, Billy was riding a 60-year-old bike. Not only that but one that was not especially prepared for this or any other trip. Billy bought the bike from Germany, where it had been owned by a Hells Angel and no doubt ridden hard and put away wet.
Jeff kept company with us until we stopped for the night in Casper, Wyoming. Just when we thought we’d had a stress and incident free ride once the flat tire was fixed we hit trouble again. Each motel we tried for a room was booked, fully booked. Eventually we scored a room at the brand new Hilton Garden Inn where we were told we’d have to share a suite, but that it only had one bed and that it was the very last room available in the entire hotel.
With no apparent choice we accepted and caught the elevator up to our room. The suite was kinda nice with two rooms but only one with a bed. Billy kindly offered to sleep on the couch. I argued against this of course, for about two nano-seconds, but then accepted the offer. Now the suite felt pretty hot and when we checked the air conditioner it was pumping in heat and the room was at 81F already and climbing.
Aha, I thought, our last challenge for the day. Unable to reset it we called the desk and a maintenance guy came up and after replacing the wall control unit, took the main unit apart and declared it unfixable. Sh#t. Here we were, in the last room in town and, short of breaking the window (considered, then abandoned), we were stuck. Or were we? Surprise of surprises, when the maintenance guy told the manager about our plight he transferred us to a room each, at no extra charge, and on the same floor. Funny that . . . So, we went to bed with one more day on the road to go. Who knows what that would bring? Given our record so far, it wasn’t going to be incident free. But not to worry, it was all part of the adventure.
