Travelling with Joe

Enough of the politics for a while. Myself, my good friends Duane and Richie, and my son Josh, have embarked on a cross country trip to the big motorcycle (and rv) rally in Sturgis, SD. We left the Oroville, Ca. area relatively uneventfully. We rode up Hwy 162, coming into Quincy, and then up Hwy 70 to Hwy 395. The ride was beautiful, and we ended up in Reno at a pretty decent Super 8 motel. We had a great dinner buffet at the Silver Legacy, and I did a little gambling, losing only $20. Not bad for two hours of fun!
A good night's sleep, and a decent dinner at the Bonanza, and we were on our way. We rode I-80 through to Salt Lake City. Let me tell you, it is the most BORING road. Nothing but desert, with occasional oases of casinos and small towns. I cannot understand why any human would live in the desert; no big jobs except gambling, some recreation if you like the desert. No thanks.
Our Microtel suite in SLC was really good, and we started the day out in high spirits. That ended about an hour and a half into the days ride. We were supposed to do a short 425 mile ride to Caspar, WY, and from there a short 225 mile run Monday to our goal, Sturgis.
Fate intervened. Josh pulled his R1100GS over about 65 into the day, as he felt a bad vibration from rear. We all pulled over and looked, and it seemed to me he had lost a brake shoe. I tried to remove the Brembo unit, but didn't have the proper allen wrench. Richie took his rocket Hyabusa, and Josh followed on Duane's classic 1977 Gold Wing into Evanston, WY, to find me the proper wrench. They returned in about an hour, and I figured we would remove the brake unit and zip tie it up, and Josh could return to the road, and we could limp into Cheyenne or Caspar, and get some new pads.
However, the rubbing pad had heated up the rotor, which in turn heated up the rear drive bearing, which in turn caused the bearing to leak all the rear drive fluid.
NOW we were up a creek. After speaking to my wonderful friend and mechanic Mike Moakley, I ended up calling the BMWMOA Platinum card, and arranged for a tow. A call to my wife Jeri netted me six numbers from the BMWMOA Anonymous Book, where people offer their help in one way or another.
Five of the numbers were disconnected. The sixth was gold. I reached Jeff, who owns a motorcycle shop specializing in BMWs. We arranged to have the bike towed there, where Jeff said his mechanics would get on the repairs Tuesday. I asked if he could also replace the clutch, which was starting to slip a bit, and he said he could. Hopefully, we will be on our way Wednesday morning.
Monday will find us exploring the metropolis of Salt Lake City. We plan to ride the UTA Trax rail system all day. Should be a gas.
All for now. Remember -- if someone claims to be in the throes of Obamagasm, ask them why. Ask what he has accomplished. Ask what he claims to stand for. Ask if they think a junior senator, in his first term, has what it takes to be our leader. And ask them to answer honestly what they would say if the Republicans fielded such a candidate.