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July 7, 2019
The 7th of July
So, yesterday I just stayed in bed all day, I think.
Today I decided to get up and try to recover my motorcycle. So, I was able to get Robert to come and help me out. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a nice set of loading ramps in the BMW. The last loading ramps I had I broke trying to drive the BMW over them for whatever reason. So, I got some nice new ones at Harbor Freight down the hill on Bowles.
Then, I got back home and called around to verify where my wallet was, and where my bike was. I wanted to make sure that everyone knew I was going to be arriving and what time they closed, etc. Like...no surprises when we get there, please.
Robert came up and we took his truck to recover the bike and wallet.
As we're heading west on I-70, we're watching all of the 4th of July weekend traffic heading east, and it's a nightmare. People are just stopped on I-70. No joke.
I sort of laugh nervously, as we both figure we're going to be screwed royally on the return trip back down the hill on I-70 east-bound.
First, we stopped at the St. Anthony Summit Medical Center at 340 Peak One Dr, Breckenridge, CO, as this was on the way to pick up the bike, and I wanted to just run in, get my wallet from security, run back out, and then hurry down to Ryan's Towing before they closed. I walk in and a girl at the front desk contacted security. Security came out with the wallet. Asked me my name, and then handed it to me. So far so good. Now, I hobble outside, hop into Robert's truck, and we head south to Ryan's Towing.
We get to Ryan's Towing about 4:45 p.m. They close at 5:00 p.m. Fortunately, there are 3 guys there waiting (apparently) to help us load up the bike. I go in and pay them close to $400. I think the total was about $370? Robert and the 3 employees of Ryan's Towing load up the bike while I do nothing but shoot video and take photos.
But Ryan's Towing, the place that towed the bike something like 18 miles is basically a criminal enterprise. Ryan's Towing, at 198 Continental Court, Breckenridge, CO charged me way too much. they charged me $370 to tow my motorcycle roughly 18 miles. There should be laws against this.
But, be that as it may, I got my wallet back, and my bike back. Then, we start heading back down the hill towards my house.
Turn on Waze to find the shortest route, and Waze says to take I-70. So, we roll back down the hill, eastbound, and the traffic isn't that bad. To go 60 miles, will take us 80 minutes. or something like that. The traffic coming back was really not that bad, as we missed the worst of it, I think.
When, we get home, some of the neighbors (Jonathan and Tom) come over to help me unload the bike. We get the bike unloaded and pushed into the garage. I'm surprised that it's not really scratched up that bad. At some point, Robert points out that at least one of the police we dealt with knew me, as he'd stopped me for speeding over Hoosier pass a year or two ago, which I can't deny. It's amazing how many police know me up here. Nothing to be proud of, I'm sure. I'm surprised they don't have "most wanted" photos of me painted on their squad cars.
Then Robert and I sit out on the deck out back and listen to the call of the peacocks in the fading light.
We start talking and I recall that it's not the first time Robert's bailed me out. Last time he bailed me out was almost exactly 6 years ago. Then, I was in jail in Goodland, Kansas, just a few miles east of the Kansas/Colorado state line on I-70. They sit there and run an illegal speed-trap on west-bound traffic, just east of the Kansas state line. When I was coming back from my first trip to Panama, I got stopped there, and they threw me in jail because I was speeding (running triple digits in a 75), no insurance. no registration, and had some warrants out for my arrest, apparently. So they threw me in jail, but the next morning I had a hearing before the judge and, when they figured out that I had $10K in cash on me, they set a court date for me and allowed me to post bond out of the cash I had in my pocket. Robert came out, but they weren't letting me ride my bike out of there. So, at a loading dock we found out there somewhere, we rolled the KTM 990 Adventure up into the back of his truck and rode back to Denver. This would have been a 200 mile trip for him, one way.
A few months later, when I was headed east to my court date back in Kansas, they called and told my attorney that they'd dropped all charges against me just as I got out east of Denver.
So, in any event, we sat out on the redwood deck drinking Diet Coke, listening to the call of the peacocks, as the sun set. Swapping stories about the good ole days when we used to work together at University of Colorado back in 1999, about 20 years ago, roughly.
I'd like to say that I learned something from this adventure, but probably I didn't. Jack Hawkins used to say that the problem is that:
"If you push the envelope long enough, you're liable to get a nasty papercut" Jack Hawkins - 1999.
I think that, new tires are in order for the bike, and in any future riding, I do need to make sure that I'm at home before dusk. I think that riding at night is too dangerous, and I have to stop doing that. I've ridden by countless deer, elk, moose, coyotes, foxes, sheep, etc., and now, I think, I have to put some parameters around my riding. I think that I have to be home before dusk. Also, proper riding gloves and riding boots are in order. I've been riding with just work boots and ski gloves, and that area can be improved, I think.
Posted by Rob Kiser on July 7, 2019 at 9:38 PM
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