Asheville to Argentina

 We did it. These last ten days have been a crazy push to get everything together to leave, but now, a day late, we’re on the road. There were last minute changes in phone service, anti-malarial medicine that was unavailable, and of course, in the midst of the worst drought in 100 years, we had days of rain keeping me from taking my furniture to my moms in my open bed truck. Little tasks that I thought I had put behind me cropped back up as bigger problems and as our departure date drew closer and my to-do list kept getting bigger, I saw myself getting grumpier and grumpier. Some days I start running errands at 7 a.m. and wouldn’t even stop to eat till 10 p.m. I’m sure I was insufferable but the finish line was finally within reach.

Kicking off this flurry of activity was my last day at work. I’m kind of a curmudgeon so they made it a surprise. I came back to my desk and they had a big sheet cake with a photo of me in icing (how’d they do that?). I got a card, some photos, Preparation H, a T-Shirt that read in Spanish “If found, please return to UPM Raflatac” as well as a UPS hat so if things start going poorly, I can put the cap on and say that I’m just there to make a delivery. Shannon and Michelle organized a little going away party and friends and family all gathered for some last drinks with lots of hugs and loud story telling.

The pace was one that didn’t suit me well and on Sunday when I finally had the house cleaned and emptied, ready for the renters, there were still a lot of loose ends I needed to tie up. I called Shannon in the evening and suggested that maybe we could leave on Tuesday instead. I said that by leaving Tuesday instead of Monday we would have a better idea of the strength and path of hurricane Gustav but really that was just a guise. I had been going so many directions at such a hurried pace that I really wanted a day to focus on the bike and my stuff, do a few last minute tweaks and just generally go over everything in my mind. If we left on Monday, I would have felt like I was leaving half cocked. After a few calls back and forth I quite being wishy-washy and said that it was something I really needed. Shannon was fine with that, so Tuesday it was.

We got an early start and headed to Atlanta to see my family. At 11:45 we were about 15 minutes outside of town when my bike went all squirrelly. The back tire was flat but we were ready. We pulled over and took the tire off. I had an extra tube that we dropped in, but when we were putting the tire back on Shannon noticed that the bead had worn down to the point where the wires were sticking out. Just as we were going over our options, like the Calvary, a big white pick-up pulled over and Wayne asked if we needed some help. He had wrongly assumed the KTM had broken down. This poor soul had no idea what he was in for.

Shannon had his compressor, but in packing had left the hose. (We’re stopping to pick one up tomorrow) Wayne offered to give me a ride to a gas station so I could over fill the tire with air and get it to seat. As it popped in place at the gas station the hissing started. The wires from the bead punctured the tube. Wayne called around and found me a little street tire at a shop not to far away. I usualy use a combo dirt/street but beggers and chooseres and all that. Now it looks like I have a bagel mounted back there, but if it can just get us to Texas I have the set I shipped waiting on us in Brownsville.

This part of the operation took a little over two hours and Wayne, a fellow biker, gave his time, used his gas and even offered his hospitality – and only now did I realize that I forgot to offer gas money. Wayne – if you’re out there – THANKS! Beers on me when you come to Asheville.

Now that we had the tire ready to roll. I tried to slip it in place but the brakes were keeping it from mounting properly. I’ve been here before though. Remember that time it took me the whole day to change the back tire? Well, same problem. A little fiddling (about 1/2 hours worth) and now we’re back on the road.

We got to Debbie’s, and my nephew was on his little four-wheeler so we made a little parade to the house:

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So, day 1, and while in the relative safety of our own back yard we’ve discovered a few small problems. I have to say, I’m glad these lessons are being offered now where the fix is relatively easy.