Day 16: Broken Down Again

Everything was going so well this morning. I left Okanagon before 0600, heading west on WA20 down the North Cascades Scenic Highway. A beautiful, cool, clear morning with only a couple of skittery deer and a few suicidal chipmunks.

13 miles after passing through the lovely little tourist trap town on Winthrop, my bright lights suddenly came on of their own accord and wouldn't turn off. 2 miles later they turned off, then the entire bike turned off. I drifted over onto the shoulder (paved, luckily) and brought her to a stop. No one was around, so no problem. But no power when I switched her back on, and no cell service. I waited a few minutes, but still nothing. So I called 9-1-1, my only option. After a transfer to the State Patrol, and just as the dispatcher was about to send me a tow truck, the bike came back on. And even better, started up.

I jumped on her and made my way 15 miles back to Winthrop. I parked, called my roadside assistance, got a coffee, and waited. I honestly wish I could say it went that smoothly, but if any of you have ever dealt with Agero, with their stranglehold monopoly on roadside assistance, knows it Absolutely. Did. Not.

After several hours and numerous transfers back and forth between Agero and Progressive, I finally got an answer that they could not find me a service provider, and they said I could find my own. I said 🖕--pronounced Thank You--and did.

So, in the morning I'll get a $1700 lift on a rollback [I remembered the name 😉] to the closest Harley dealership, which is 150 miles and 3 hours away in Marysville, WA near Seattle. In the meantime, I found a bed in a hostel for the night. A really nice, very new place with great aircon! Better yet: $35 a night and reimbursable! Winning while I'm losing 🤣😭.

Now, I'm sitting in Three Fingered Jacks drinking my first of probably several beers 🍺. Have one with me 🍻 and wish me luck 🤞! (I seem to be asking you for that a lot lately, sorry and thanks.)

Out ✌️.

Miles: Ugh probably 60, but 30 of that was down and back 😭. I didn't even make it to a photo stop.

P.S.: I was working on the laptop at the hostel While I waited for my bunk to be readied. While uploading my completed stops, I realized I missed one of the Idaho Tour of Honor locations 😭😭😭. The heat was frying my GPS. I had to go into the gas station and put it in the freezer for a while to get it to work again, but it affected my routes more than I thought. I would insert the poop emoji here, but they only have one with a smiley face, and I'm not smiling. Poopy pooping poop.Read more