DAY 16 – MEADSVILLE, PA TO COUDERSPORT, PA

Date: Friday, September 14, 2018

Location: Meadsville, PA

Departure time: 9:50 am

Up just after 7:00 I watched the hurricane news while eating an English muffin with peanut butter. The sun was out, the sky bright blue.

Breakfast over, work cloths on, it was time to check the valves for the third time, cold, just like Don said. They were pretty close, but I tweaked them a bit. While doing the work I noticed the sidecar tire was really looking like a racing slick. “Man, I need to deal with that.”

Today was to be a leisurely 250 mile ride to the finger lakes. In honor of seeing Jeff and Jodi I put on clean cloths. Big mistake.

Back in the room we went online and started making calls. A scooter tire nine miles south was the best we could find.

Lee yelled for me to slow down. There it was on the left. I dropped two gears braking hard. The rear tire locked and we made a power slide into the lot. The smell of hot rubber filled the air. “See, we got into the lot no problem!”

OFF WITH THE BAD

ON WITH THE GOOD

Matt at Pro Cycle was great. His dad was one of the original partners when the shop opened in the mid eighties. It was a deceptively big place packed with parts, literally hanging from the rafters. The tire, mounted with a new valve stem, was $65. Low cost peace of mind.

Matt gave us directions that didn’t pan out so we double backed to RT 19 N and headed to Meadville. The morning had vaporized.

Somewhere we missed a turn, but Lee the nagigator guided us to RT 86 N, bypassing a lot of congestion.

Finally RT 6 E appeared, we were finally on our way.

Within minutes we came down a hill to a stop sign when the back of the bike got squirrelly. Limping through the intersection we pulled over. “Oh a flat tire, and it’s the rear, how wonderful!!”

Lee and I pushed the rig about 100 feet to a driveway entrance that afforded a place to work. It felt like 1000 feet. The driveway was for a building that appeared to be commercial property. There was no sign of life.

Lee walked across the parking lot to the Waterford Creekside Bar and Grill to see if we could use some power. They said yes so Lee put the battery on the charger.

I pulled my work cloths out of the trailer and looked for a place to change. There were two boats in the driveway so I ducked behind one and came out Superman.

After removing the saddlebags I went to work.

PURE JOY

In the past the jack had given me trouble, today it went above and beyond. About the fourth time it failed to support the bike and not fall over, Lee, who had returned, asked if she should ask at the bar for one. “Yes, please!” At this point the jack was pinned under the frame.

Jessie came over in his Volvo and loaned us his jack. By then Jimmy had come, then left in pursuit of a tank of air.

Our compressor is 12 volt and needs to run off the battery. Since the charging system wasn’t working, drawing down the battery to inflate the tire was something we wanted to avoid if at all possible.

Bikes rode by indifferently. Then Ken rolled up on his Harley and asked if we needed help. “A tank of compressed air would be great”, I replied. “I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.”

With the wheel finally removed I pulled the tube out and dismounted the tire.

By this time numerous bikes had rolled by without stopping. Some actually tooted their horns!

The tire was inspected inside and out with no foreign objects found. Somehow the tube had gotten pinched. A section of the road we took was all grooved for repaving and pretty rough so that may have contributed to the flat.

Lee had brought back salads with grilled chicken so a lunch break was taken. When just about done with lunch Ken returned, as promised, with Lowrider in tow.

He asked how many bikes had stopped. “None”, we replied. He shook his head and explained the Biker Code, lamenting that only the greybeards take it to heart, never pass by a broken down motorcycle.

I remounted the tire then inserted the partially inflated tube.

Lee and Ken talked. He told Lee how he and his wife of 38 years bought a RV to travel around the country. Three months before their planned departure date she died. He said that it’s only been recently that he can talk about it. “She was my nagigater whenever we travelled.” We loved the term, “nagigater”. “Oh, she nagged, turn here, turn there”, Ken said.

Jimmy had returned empty handed. While I mounted the other half of the tire he talked non stop. It was a bit nerve wracking as I was trying to focus. Pinching the tube was not something I wanted to do.

Ken’s tank inflated the tire and got it up to 40 psi. I leaned it against a big rock and waited to make sure it held air.

JIMMY ON LEFT, KEN & LOWRIDER ON THE RIGHT

Jimmy then bid us farewell. As I was installing the rear wheel Ed pulled up on his bagger to lend a hand. It was hot, really hot. Lowrider walked around. “Man Lowrider, you sure smell like a dog!” “Oh, he’s a stinky one”. Ken confirmed.

As I was repacking the bike Lee returned Jessie’s jack and came back with the battery and charger.

The last thing I wanted to do was put that leather jacket on, but I did. It was now 3:30 pm and we’d progressed 21 miles!

Seeing Jeff and Jodi tonight was not going to happen so we just focused on getting some mileage in.

Lee routed us onto RT 957 to RT 69 to RT 62 to save time. After a short crawl on RT 6 we turned left onto RT 57 which took us through the Allegany Forest. The road was great and fast. She was nagigating up a storm!

Reaching Coudersport, PA we pulled into a Qwik Mart for gas. 130 miles covered, it was 6:30 pm.

The attendant was great allowing us to plug in. Lee ran down our options: Jeff & Jodi’s 123 miles, “Not going to happen.” Corning 87 miles, “Not going to happen.” Mansfield 57 miles, “Not going to happen.” There was some cloud cover and daylight was evaporating. “I think we’re done for the day.”

Lee went to work and found us a room at the Big Oak Motel two miles out of town. It was short money, and very quaint. The issue was, it was out of town.

In our room, it was now past 8:00 pm and the restaurants in town closed at 9:00.

Unable to find the newly established taxi company online I finally called a restaurant and asked them. More calls. Finally Dee arrived, it was 8:40 pm.

The Crittenden Hotel was a time capsule.