The Little Red Bike That Couldn't...

We rode out from Albuquerque, NM yesterday, at 5 am planning on only riding to Flagstaff, AZ and staying the night. The weather that morning was cold, yes cold, from NM to the AZ stateline in August. Had to put on full leathers and a sweatshirt underneath. We arrived in Flagstaff to it's beautiful scenery and fresh air.

We then decided to "ride on through" to home. We had already rode 325 miles so now we only had about 300 miles to go. We decided to stop and have a bite to eat in Seligman, AZ at the famous Route 66's Sno Cap diner.

The heat was becoming too intense so we decided to drive through Laughlin, NV and stop at Sam's fire Station 76 for a wet down before we rode on home.

Well, it was Friday the 13th, but it didn't rear it's ugly head until 45 miles away from home in Seachlight, NV. As we were riding up an upgrade into Searchlight, our bike began to make a horrible sound as Sam down shifted. And then...no power. He pulled her to the side of the rode.



I then called our son Alec and left a message. Sam then called his FF friend Nick and he immediately rose to the occasion and drove to our house in Henderson only to meet Alec already loading up the trailer on the truck.

Sam told me to walk on up to the gas station and get into the shade, but I wasn't about to leave my "driver" sitting in the heat. So I told him "let's push her".

So Sam and I pushed her in the heat, uphill (in the snow, backwards, barefoot...adding to the drama here, lol) about a 1/4 mile to the truck stop portion of the gas station. We huffed and we puffed as it took 5 attempts to get her up that hill. Stopping each time to take a drink of water because it felt like you just inhaled fire.




We finally made it and believe it or not, there was "grass" and a shady little palm tree to sit under while we waited. We wet down our towels and tried to relax.



Alec arrived and we loaded up our little girl and drove home. Sam kept repeating "but we were making such good time".



She seemed happy to be on our trailer as she followed behind us. I'm thankful she brought us this far safely. She's a good girl and we thought she deserved a massage. So now she's sitting in the Harley shop being cared for by professional hands.