I don't remember here the last (draft) post ended so I will take up the story from Sunday morning. I loaded my bike to get ready for the road, took leave of Carol and Hans and got on the freeway. The repairs hadn't really been tested so I wanted to stay close to town until I was sure everything was working according to plan. Good thing, too, as it turned out that the carbs needed work. The bike was not running quite right and since I was about to go across some pretty desolate country, having a reliable ride was crucial. So, I called Jason, hoping it was a fix that I could do...no such luck. Jason said to bring it to his shop.
Before I called him, I had stopped by IHOP for breakfest. I made balloons for lots of folks and the manager snagged my bill to pay for my meal. I don't talk much about why people choose to gift me money, food and other stuff, but they must being seeing some good in what I do...
He was hard at work on another bike but said that he would get to it as soon as he could. I called Hans who came by to hang out a bit. We took a little ride and Hans bought Jason a bag of floor cleaner, which Jason mentioned he was going to go buy. After we got back to the shop, while looking for the number of the local newspaper, I noticed that there was a street fair going on downtown for a few hours. Another Universal blessing as I was getting very low on funds. I asked Hans to gvie me a ride and we zipped to the fair. I was so concentrated on getting to work that I didn't immediately realize that I wouldn't be seeing Hans again before I left, otherwise I would've thanked him more graciously. There's a lesson about staying in the present...
I made about $70, which has been coming in very handy. After the fair ended (5:00) I met aann older man who offered me a ride back to Jason's: thanks Lavern. The bike wasn't ready yet so I sat down on a tarp to restock the balloon bags. Jason got the bike ready -- cleaned and sync'd the carbs, checked the spark plugs and a few other things. I started putting the plastic back on the bike after he was finished with the mechanical stuff. Talk about feeling inapt! I felt like a first time student in a Master dance class. Jason even found a way to fix the switch to my brake light; the hand brake hadn't operated the brake light since I got it.
After I got the bike all ready for the road, again, I took leave of Jason ad goot on the freeway. I road about 125 miles or so and the bike ran perfectly. Thank you SO much, Jason! The weather was so nice for riding (cool and cloudy) that I wanted to just keep on but got way tired. I stopped in Jamestown, the hometown of my good friend, Keith) and drove around town. I didn't feel like spending the money on a hotel for just a few hours nor go through the trouble of putting up the tent, so I found dark corner of the Walmart parking lot and wrapped myself in sleeping bag and tarp.
This morning, I found that I had forgotten to turn off the battery so needed a jump. Thank you, Amy. Back on the road and now in a restaurant in Bismark, ND. Time to get back on the road before the sun comes out and makes it too hot to comfortably ride.
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