I completed the Saddle Sore 1,000-1, and made the run through North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and into Maryland.
Less then 100 miles from the home of Grandson Jason and Allison Darelius.
Cruising up I-68 at 65 MPH when I heard a loud bang, followed by a loud whistling sound.
The rear tire had blown out.
The Yamaha didn't wobble, shake or swerve.
It stayed as solid as a rock.
A tribute to the great job Sidecar Bill Ryder did in setting it up.
I quickly moved to the edge of this very busy freeway and pulled as far off onto the shoulder as I could.
I have Triple A Premium which covers motorcycle and RV tows, thanks to my son Roger telling me about it.
I got the Triple A card out, but before I could make the call, a sharp looking Harley Sportster pulled over and it's rider sporting a beard, leather jacket and denim vest covered with patches from Biker get-togethers around the country got off and asked if I needed help.
"Blew the rear tire" I said.
Without waiting Sportster guy, Dave Brode said " that's not good let me make a couple of calls."
With a couple of calls he had located a tire at Twigg Cycles in Hagerstown, some forty miles away.
I got the Triple A card out and tried to call for a tow truck.
With all of the trucks roaring past I couldn't hear well enough to get a truck.
Just then one of Daves friends pulled up in his SUV.
Seeing that I was having trouble with my call he told me to get in his car, away from the highway noise.
Sadly I neglected to get his name so I could thank him in this report.
Triple A did a great job in getting the information and lining up a towing service to haul me the forty miles in to town.
They said it would be about an hour to get a truck out to pick me up.
Much to my surprise, in less that five minutes I received a call from Scott Carbough owner/operator of Jaz's Towing and Recovery service of Hancock, Maryland.
He wanted to confirm the location I was at.
I told him I was on I-68 East near Exit number 68.
Dave had pinpointed the location for me when he first arrived on he scene.
To my surprise Scott said he was already at Exit 68 but in the West bound lane.
When he received the call from Triple A, he had been on the way to a relatives house to check on some needed repairs on his truck.
His Uncle lived close to the spot where I was stranded.
Instead of an hour long wait for the truck, he was there in a matter of minutes.
In a short time he had my rig loaded on to his truck and 45 minutes later he was backing up to the loading dock at Twigg Cycles in Hagerstown, the largest motorcycle shop in the area.
Service Advisor Andy Horowitz quickly had the bike moved into the shop and the crew went to work.
As Harley Sportster Dave put it, " I think God was working overtime to get you taken care of today, if your tire had blown a half mile further down the road you would have had no cell phone service, it's a dead space for cell phones."
Yeah, I think he got it right.
On this day, all the good came together for me.
Life is good.
I had a great ride today and a very interesting afternoon.
Met new friends and have another good story to share at side car rallies and other get togethers.
I'm looking forward to meeting many more good folks like the ones I met today.
I'll be coming your way, look for me.
I'll be in the Right Lane America
Del "Lonnie" Lonnquist
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