MY FIRST ROAD TRIP  ON MY OWN! (Harley trip to Ft. Worth on  April 14, 2001)

     On Easter weekend, all of my immediate family was getting together at Paul’s and Shelly’s in Crowley, Texas.  Paul’s birthday was that Saturday, April 14, and I had decided to give him his dad’s Softtail Heritage Harley.  Furthermore, I wanted to ride it to Texas and make the delivery in person.  Paul was yet to know about this gift.

     Emerald’s senior prom was Friday night, so we had much to do for it and could not leave Perry until Saturday morning.  I had done quite a bit in preparation for the trip because I never want to be in a hurry on the bike.  I had washed the windshield, aired the tires and cleaned the leather, etc. I had taken the box that the last battery came in to O’Reilly’s in order to purchase a new one about one week ago, and the guy wanted me to go to the back and pick out which battery I needed.  Are you kidding??  I didn’t even know where the battery was located on the bike!

     My first inkling that the day might not be as smooth as I had hoped was that when I went to bed after midnight Friday night, I had set the alarm incorrectly.  I wanted to awake at 5:15 a.m. and be on the road by 6 a.m.  I woke up precisely at 5:58!  Well, I hurriedly put on my tank top, over shirt, jeans, chaps, makeup (God forbid that I would leave the house without that!), very heavy lined motorcycle jacket, headband, riding boots and three pairs of glasses.  I didn’t partake of my morning cup of coffee because I knew what would happen further on down the road…….
Making sure I had a little money and a credit card (forgot the driver’s license), I threw on the helmet and away I puttered down the driveway.

     It was still fairly dark, and I hoped that I would beat a lot of traffic.  My sisters and daughter were coming later in the van, so, if something did happen, they would be along.

     I had not filled up with gas since last Saturday in Hominy on the Landrun Chapter ride because I figured I would stop fairly often.  About 20 miles south of Perry, the motor became very quiet, which isn’t ideal for a Harley, so I promptly turned on the gas reserve, but it didn’t help.  So, I called Alvin, my father in law. He came to the rescue and brought me gas, pointing out which way the arrow pointed to was either the reserve tank and which was the regular.  I had them confused.  So, at least one hour late, I headed south again after calling my sisters to tell them to delay their departure a while longer.

     At Moore, Ok. it began to rain so I stopped under an overpass to put on Paul’s rain jacket, thinking I would not need the pants.  By the time I got to Purcell, the bottom half of me was pretty darn wet, and there was so much rain on my glasses and on the windshield that I could barely make out where I was heading.  As soon as I could find an exit, I got off and bound for an abandoned filling station under the canopy.  I put on the rain pants (over the jeans and chaps and boots, and got back on the bike, determined to make Ft. Worth before dark!  Well, then my glasses were so fogged up that I could not see, so I proceeded to an ‘open’ station hoping to purchase some anti-fog spray.  (I had tried to ‘spit’ polish, and it didn’t work.)  Nope, they had none.  As long as I was there, I decided to find the ladies room so I wouldn’t have to find one later.  Of course, it was a small room, and I had to now take OFF the boots, chaps, rainsuit and heavy jacket, helmet and soaked headband.  I decided to leave the chaps off, so that I could get Paul’s rain pants zipped. (Lucky for me that there was a baby-changing station in there.)

     Well, I ‘fished’ out my goggles, which kept the rain out, and again made for I-35.  It wasn’t pouring now, and I considered that a good sign.  One of the women in the bathroom had told me that the rain started in Ardmore.  I figured that I had that to look forward to.  I did find out that it takes two truck lengths after a truck passes for the wind to whip me around, but the water spray comes immediately.  I was making some pretty good time and passed Paul’s Valley…..still raining.  Then I passed Ardmore………….still raining.  About 20 miles on the other side of there, right in front of the rest stop before the Texas line, the motor died AGAIN!  I coasted to the ‘V’ between the on ramp and the interstate.  I was about 30 feet from I-35, and l0 from the ramp.  Talk about a lot of water spray! And, of course, I couldn’t leave the bike there.  Now, the motor wouldn’t even ‘crank’, so I swiftly called my sisters behind me to see where they were. “Right by the Ardmore exit” was the reply.  “Turn off quick and find me a battery,” I screamed.
Who could help me in this predicament but FORMAN’S of Stillwater, and since I have their phone number memorized, I quickly dialed Scott, the mechanic.  “Yes, it was probably the battery and maybe a regulator.” (What in the heck is a regulator and where is the battery kept, I wondered.)  Well, skipping some details here, the girls acquired a new battery eating lunch while it was being charged.  They even brought me a sandwich and hot coffee, which was very much appreciated.

     I also called my son in Ft. Worth and related my trials.  He said that he and my son-in-law, who had gone a day earlier than we, would be there to put the new battery in, but I should give them about two hours……..still raining.

     I decided that I should not just sit there but do something constructive, like ‘FIND THE BATTERY’!  I related to Paul that he could guide me through putting the new one in over the cell phone and he and Cody wouldn’t have to make that trip to help me.  I guess Paul thought that might be an overwhelming effort and elected to make the trip.

     You will be proud of me, I finally determined that it must be under the seat. Well, of course, that meant taking the seat off.  Oh, my gosh!  Where were my tools?  I got out the handy, dandy kit and looked in it hoping for a miracle.  There were lots of shiny chrome things that I felt had to be of some use.  By this time, my neck was hurting because I was leaving the helmet on so nobody would glean that I was a girl and not a guy. (It is still sore.) Each time I leaned over to get some apparatus to extract the seat, the rain ran off the helmet and made the tools wetter and wetter. Of course, the cars and trucks were still spraying me from both sides of the highway.

     At this time, I noticed that there weren’t two seats, there was one BIG seat, and two bolts wouldn’t remove it.  I had to find another tool to unscrew the back.  I had no screwdriver, but there was some device that sort of looked like one, but the end was square.  I figured that there must be one of those shiny things to fit over that, and sure enough, after trying 100 of them, I found the precise one!  The seat still wouldn’t come off………still raining.  There was a band of black leather still hugging it.  Well, that required another instrument.  I guess it would be too simple of Harley Davidson to make only one kind and size of bolt.  So, after trying another 100 or so, I unbolted those two.  Wa lah! the seat was off.  I had started removing the battery cables when Paul and Cody drove up.  They finished it with my help, because you know I was an expert at removing and replacing the battery by now……………….still raining.

     After securing the seat back with my help (I was holding the umbrella over them.), Paul tried to start it………..No luck.  I don’t know how I could be out of gas, but I must have been.  He drove to the nearest station and brought a huge cup of the precious liquid back.  Sure enough, it started.  He wanted to ride it the rest of the way, but I insisted that it was my trip, so on I jumped and began the last half of my journey.
Guess what……….it stopped raining about Denton, so the last hour of the trip was pretty darn nice.  It is a lot warmer in Texas, and I had to stop and take off that mighty heavy jacket.  You wouldn’t believe my hairdo when I arrived at my children’s house in Crowley.  I think I actually scared my grandchildren!

     They had to pry my hands off the handlebars, but I had made it…………..And on my own!(If you don’t count my sisters and daughter getting the battery for me, my father-in-law bringing me gas, my son and son-in-law replacing the battery and my son driving to buy me even more gas.)

     Needless to say, Paul was thrilled with his birthday gift He was so happy to finally have his dad’s Harley.  And, I was glad to give it to him because I didn’t have to clean it up!