June 10, 1997 Denver, CO

We arose Monday morning in Kansas City with high hopes of resolving our tough situation. Dave's ST1100 front rim appeared to be in terminal condition and we contemplated it's replacement. The local Honda shop quoted us $565 and a week for it to arrive. Internet to the rescue!!

I had promised to hook up with Mark Levy here in Kansas City for breakfast before we left. I called Mark and notified him of our dilema. He spoke highly of a local shop in Merriam, KS called Cyclops Cycle Products and said we should give them a try. We loaded up the bad wheel and within 30 minutes were standing in the presence of "A Man Named Jim." Jim surveyed our situation and seemed to know what to do! You see, Jim is an authorized Wheel Rite dealer and one of the few people in the midwest who laces spoke wheels. We were dealing with a skilled craftsman. His physical presence was undaunting but when he spoke, people listened. When he worked, people watched. He detailed what he was going to do and how he was going to do it, warning us of the possibility of the rim cracking while restoring it to it's original roundness.

Have you ever seen Gallagher!! You know, the comedian!! Well it seems that "A Man Named Jim" has a device similar to Gallagher's "Sledge-O-Matic" that he uses to bang wheels back to shape. It seemed a little Flintstone to me but he had our full confidence. We left to locate a new set of wheel bearings and to let Jim tend to his craft. When we came back, the wheel was finished! Indeed it HAD cracked while Jim applied his Gallagherian techique. He simply "V" cut the crack out of the wheel and heli-arched (welded) new aluminum in it's place. A bit of die grinding to shape it up and VIOLA! Best of all it was airtight and true. With a spin balance and quick replacement of the bearings, we were headed back to our host garage.

Reassembly confirmed our hopes and we were on the rode by 4pm. 270 miles passed beneath our wheels before retiring at Hays, KS just outside of Russell. That's right....Bob Dole country. Other than Dave's incessant incantations of "I'm Bob Dole!!", things seem to be back to normal.

Morning in Hays was beautiful! For once we were able to sleep in due to the short trip required today. For good luck, I had a "Denver" omelette at breakfast to ward off demons that may be lurking roadside. The first sign on I-70 read "Denver 335". Piece 'o Cake! Superslab all the way! First of all let me say "FLAT!!" I know you've read about it and maybe even seen pictures, but until you've seen Kansas first hand you haven't seen "FLAT!!" I don't know why but for some reason I expected instant mountains when we reached the Colorado border. STILL FLAT!! So we meandered on at a brisk 85 mph. Why not! The speed limit was 75 mph.

I couldn't count on both hands how many close calls I had of hitting birds. That's right birds! You know how dolphins follow alongside boats as they cruise the pacific? The birds along I-70 do the same thing! It was pretty comical. What wasn't comical was the doe that decided to cross our path on I-70 just inside the Colorado line. She made it easily but I kept watch for the buck than never came. If he had followed, like buck usually do, we would have had a situation. St. Louis provided us with enough situations thank you.

When we got within a hour of Denver we called our next host, Ed Guzman. Gooz was ready and waiting for our arrival; however, so was a lightning storm. As Saddam Hussein would have said "It was the Mother of All Lightning Storms!" Let me first say that I'm a rain rider. It doesn't bother me! THIS BOTHERED ME!!! Rain coming down in sheets while flashes of lightning landed all around. WE CAME 1700 MILES FOR THIS!?!?!?!? I keyed into the Chatterbox to Dave "Tell my wife that I love her." He was amused as it broke up the tension running through our veins. Finally at 3:15pm we made it to Aurora, CO. A quaint suburb of Denver. Of course it hadn't rained a drop there!

After all the introductions were made, Gooz made a quick inspection of the damage on Dave's bike and announced "The head bearings are shot!" He was right of course and we scrambled to located a shop nearby that could take care of us IMMEDIATELY! Yeah right! The first dealer said he could get to it the first week of July. The next had the parts and said they could do it tomorrow afternoon. Not bad, but we were looking for another "Man Named Jim." This hope manifested itself in Fay Meyers Honda/Kawasaki/Suzuki/Ducati/Husaberg/Triumph/KTM and a partridge in a pear tree. I'm not kidding! He sells all those brands!! The locals call it FayMart! Dave and I called it another miracle. They said "Bring it down now" and we did. After 3 different people looked over the bike and shook their head, they told us the bad news. "We'll have it ready tomorrow morning by noon." For those who haven't caught on yet, this was phenomenal news! There was much rejoicing and once again our trip was saved! I now sit at the kitchen table of the Guzman's, Ed and Susan. They are preparing a wonderful meal of marinated steak with all the trimmings, including a plethora of beer and a local Cabernet Sauvignon. Life is good!!