This past weekend my wife Susan and I went on the road to a show in Pittsburgh, PA. We left early Friday morning making a stop in New Jersey to drop off a freshly built bobber for a customer and then headed to Pittsburgh. We got there late Friday night.
Saturday the show was early morning ‘til early evening. That day was also my wife and mine anniversary. The show was busy throughout the day and the weather was great. We did the same thing on Sunday and packed up around 5 and were on the road home at about 6.
Here is where it gets interesting….the drive from Pittsburgh to Bridgewater, MA is about 11 hours. We get on the road and drive through most of the night till we get to Rhode Island. We were making good time - Susan and I were excited that we might get home before 4 am! We no sooner get into Rhode Island and we get a blow out. No big deal. We pull over, I change the tire and get back on the road. I didn’t even get a chance to turn the radio back up and we heard a loud pop noise! The spare tire blew out! Now we are in trouble!
I pull over and examine the trailer and tire. We are on the rim. What can we do? After making some phone calls, waking a few people up at 4 am, I realized there was nothing I could do till a tire place opened.
We didn’t want to sit on the side of the highway with $140,000 worth of bikes in the trailer so we decided to pretty much drag the trailer on the grass to the next exit. Thankfully there was a 24 hour gas station right off the exit. We decided to leave the trailer there locked up and come back for it later.
Well, I was a little nervous leaving it there because this is something we never do but I was a little more confident knowing that Kryptonite was protecting it. I backed it up to a light pole so no one could open the door, put 2 locks on the back door, one on the front door, one on the tongue, a rotor lock on each bike, chained the bikes together with a Fahgettaboudit, and put a chain around the one good wheel and tire. I would have to say someone would have a hard time stealing it if they tried. So all together I had almost 10 locks on everything. We told the clerk we were leaving it there and they said they would keep their eye on it.
At about 9 am Jody and Jeff headed down to pick it up with a new tire. The trailer must have looked terrible, sitting on the rim, fender ripped off, dirt and grass hanging out the back, ay what a site! But we got it home safe and sound! What a way to end a trip.
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