May 16, 2008, Day 7

We all packed up to go and it was all good.  We had to leave early to fuel up, as we did not feel like it last night.  We caught the pack as they were riding past the gas station.  It was very cold.  Drew said his meter said 38 degrees.  Around 75 miles into the day, my bike was making a lot of noise from the engine.  As I was planning to pull over at the next exit, Joni said oil was coming out of the bottom of the bike.  Right after that, Randy and Sis said the same thing.  I was watching my oil pressure gauge as it went from 30 psi to 10 psi and I shut it off and pulled the clutch in, and coasted off the off ramp.  The chase truck pulled up for me to see if they could help.  All 5 quarts had disappeared!  The guys gave me 3 quarts of oil from the trailer.  I put them in and fired up the motor.  It was running out the breather.  The motor was making a lot of racket this time.  It was terminal!  We put the bike into the trailer and I rode with them in the truck.  I started making phone calls to try to find a shovelhead engine.  After a half a dozen calls, and finding out that they are not too popular around this area, I got another idea.  I called Mark back at the store and asked him to do me a favor.  He was surprised, that I was as calm as I was, as I asked him to go up to the house and get my spare shovelhead engine.  I asked him to crate it up, get it to Federal Express, and have it air freighted overnight to Cheyenne, Wyoming.  I guessed it to weigh around 150 lbs.  Mark called me back and said that Fed-Ex has a 150 lb limit on air freight.  Paul got the scale from the house and it weighs 146 lbs without a crate.  They cut a couple of 2x4s, bolted the engine stand to them, and made a small pallet.  He shrink wrapped the heck out of it and took it to Fed-Ex.  It came in right at the weight limit.

It is supposed to be here before noon tomorrow at the Harley shop.  I already made arrangements with them, and they will let me do the work on a lift right outside their service door.  Their insurance won’t let me work on my bike inside the shop.  Maverick’s Harley Davidson is doing me a big favor!  That is the same shop where we got Joni’s bike serviced and a new back tire put on last year. 

We stopped at the next fuel stop to be met by Trevor and a lot of other familiar faces from last years ride.  I rode Joni’s bike and she rode with Buzz on his Honda.  We were probably around 50-60 bikes now.  We went to the Cheyenne VA Medical Center to visit patients and watch a wreath laying ceremony, and a few people speak.  It was Cynthia and Randy, and Drew and Cliff’s first one to see on this trip.  Pretty cool thing!  

After a while, Pappy got the trailer backed up and we went to the Harley Shop to get my bike out and leave her for the night.  All the guys working there thought it was pretty cool.  They don’t often get a rat bike where the owner is going to change his own engine on their property. 

We then went back to the VA to find every one almost gone.  I followed Steve to the VFW hall where they had a great spaghetti feed waiting for us.  I had to explain to a lot of people where the rat bike was, what happened and what I planned to do about it.  Hope all goes as planned and the motor shows up on time and not damaged!  Good night for now…