DAY #04 - An Abrupt End to a LONG Trip!!!

Monday, September 4th, 2017 - Labor Day

The goal for today was to leave very early from Kanab, Utah and arrive at the Mexican Border crossing by 11:00 AM. This was done to cover as many miles as possible before the Arizona heat got too high.

I left the hotel at 2:45 AM (Arizona time). The temperature was in the low 50's, so I was wearing my leather jacket, a cloth neck wrap and summer riding gloves. I crossed into Arizona about five minutes later. For the next half hour or so, I followed a car, so we moved along in the 55-65 mph speed range. We slowed down for many of the curves. With the exception of the road reflectors it was the only indication if there was a curve in the road ahead.

The final 45-miles

We arrived at Jacob Lake which is in the Kanab National Forest on US-89A. This is where the turnoff is to head south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There is a gas station and campground there as well. The car I had been following turned off, so I was alone on the road. I decided to slow my speed to be 5-10 mph below the limit because I didn't want to out drive my headlights.

About 4 miles past the turnoff as I was rounding a turn, I encountered a deer standing in the middle of the right lane that I was travelling in. Having only a second to react, the deer started running to my right as I swerved to the left to miss it. I ended hitting the deer in its right hindquarter area. I guess that was travelling at around 45 mph and had hit the brakes prior to impact. I was fortunate not to hit the main part of the deer's body or that would have been catastrophic and I would have been thrown over the top of the bike.

Because I only hit a portion of the deer, the bike continued on. The anti-lock brake indicator came on so I know that I had hit the brakes fairly hard. There was a whining sound from the front-end of the bike but it continued onward. I could smell something but I don't have the best sense of smell. I rode further and the whine went away, the smell decreased and the bike was handling better.

About three more miles later I had slowed even more, the front wheel started wobbling which is an indication that the tire had gone flat. Before I could bring the bike to a complete stop, the bike abruptly stopped and the bike rolled over my left leg and threw me to the pavement. I was not trapped by the bike which weighs around 1,000 pounds loaded. However, I knew that I had scraped my knee but nothing was broken. The Kevlar pads in the shoulder and elbow areas had protected my upper body and my helmet kept my head protected.

The time was around 3:45 AM when this all happened. I got up and looked at the bike and made sure that I shut off the engine switch and made sure that there was no gas leaking from the tank. I then tried to turn the ignition off but that turned off the lights on the bike. I tried to turn on the emergency flashers to no avail. I went into the external pocket on my backseat pack and got out my flashlight. I saw headlights in the trees beyond the turn I had just past and two other motorcyclists rounded the corner. I turned the headlights back on and used the flashlight to signal them that there was a problem. The two bikers from Canada were part of the group that I was in helped me get the bike upright and pushed off to the side of the road.

Having the bike parked in a safe location, they then made sure that I was okay and safe. We then looked at my GPS unit and got the coordinates of where we were. Being in the middle of nowhere, there was no cell service. They snapped pictures of the GPS coordinates and continued on with their trip. When they got to the next town, they called the Arizona State Police and gave them my location and notified them that I was not injured. They also notified the organizers of the Three Flags Classic ride and advised them that I had gone down and would not be finishing the trip. Before they left, they told me to put on my cold weather gear since in might be several hours before help could arrive. The temperatures were still in the low 50's (best guess) with a light wind, so it made sense to follow their suggestion.

I pulled out the hooded sweatshirt which is the in the top of the pack and was originally the winter liner for the leather jacket. I put that on along with my winter gloves and pulled the ball cap out of the T-Box that is on the rear of the bike. I also grabbed one of those goofy flashlights that have an elastic strap to wear on your forehead. I used that light to get situated to wait for help to arrive. I was pleased that as part of planning for the trip I was able to get to all of this gear directly and without digging through other things. I sat on the bike which was mostly straight up instead of its normal 15-degree tilt to the left. Because of this, I was able to sit upright. After eating a breakfast bar that was crushed in my pocket, I covered up and hunkered down to wait for help to arrive.

I live in Las Vegas and our backyard faces north towards the city. The lights prevent us from seeing anything but the major stars. Being in the middle of nowhere, the stars were brilliant. I looked at them and truly appreciated God's creation and the miracle that I had survived this event. I was also sad because I knew that the major goal that I had spent 27 days to get to was not going to happen.

As I waited, I would signal other biker groups that I was okay by giving them a thumbs-up indication. I decided to close my eyes and eventually fell asleep. I didn't hear when the State Trooper arrived until he closed his car door and started to ask if I was alright which was around 5:30 AM. He then called for a wrecker and proceeded to create the accident report. While we waited for the tow truck, I told him about the trip I was on as well as the one I had completed.

Fastening the bike to the truck

The truck arrived around 6:30 AM. The Trooper helped the driver and I position the bike to get it loaded onto the flatbed truck and assisted getting it loaded onto the truck's flatbed. It was a struggle for me since we were at about 7,500 feet elevation and I had to take some time to catch my breath. Fortunately, there were no chest pains. Since the sun was up and the temperatures was climbing, I took off the leather jacket since I had broken out into a sweat helping get the bike loaded. The driver took his time and tethered the bike to the flatbed with about 9 straps. After we loaded the bike we took off and headed back to Kanab which was where he is out of. We traveled the 45 miles back and I at a package of crackers that I had saved for later. We came upon one stretch of road where there were cows out on the road. The driver also mentioned that there were buffalo in the area as well. I was glad that I only hit a deer.

We arrived back in Kanab around 8:00 AM and I made arrangements to the owner to have the bike transferred to the nearest Harley-Davidson dealer in St. George, Utah which was 70 miles away. They moved the bike from the flatbed and placed it on a trailer designed for motorcycle transport. While they were moving the bike, I decided to walk across the street to the Three Flags Checkpoint. I grabbed some oranges, water and some snacks. They had been informed that I had gone down by the organizing group's hotline. I let them know that I was okay and that the bike was not totaled as the original riders had thought. I then walked across the street again and waited for the ride to the H-D dealer, in the meantime, the tow company had another vehicle going to the same area. They loaded it onto the flatbed and hitched the trailer to the truck and the other two customers and I headed to St. George.

I arrived at the Zion Harley-Davidson dealer around 11:00 AM. I made arrangements for them to repair the motorcycle. I grabbed my large rear-seat pack (40 pounds), my computer bag and a canvas bag with miscellaneous gear in it. One of the salesman drove me to the Shuttle service that runs from St. George to the Las Vegas airport. The next run happened to be an "Executive" run so I rode in a van with reclining seats. I slept most of the way and called my wife to pick me up at the airport. I got home and took care of a few things before going to bed for a long nap. I got up around 8:00 PM, had something to eat and went back to bed. I have slept a lot the past few days and managed to get some work in 

WHAT I LEARNED:

At breakfast with friends on Friday morning, they asked, if hitting the deer was the worst point of the trip what was the best part of the trip. It took a few seconds to come up with the answer and a few more to regain my composure before I could reply: "It was just after the accident when I realized that God had protected me and I was walking away with some scrapes and bruises." The bike can be repaired and I will come out of this unscathed.

I learned that the "Three Flags Classic" is flexible where the only rules is you have to travel to the checkpoint on a motorcycle vehicle. You don't have to follow the suggested route and you don't have to stay in the checkpoint cities. Knowing that, I would have gone a couple of hours beyond the checkpoint to reduce the overall distance for the next day. Had I done this in Kanab and traveled through the forest are during daylight hours, I could avoided the accident. The planned routes are designed to be scenic and challenging but in the extreme summer heat could be shortened by using a more direct route. I booked my hotel reservations a couple of months in advance in order to lock in lower rates. The next time I will take that into account and not lock the schedule in.

The lessons I learned from three years before were very helpful and made a huge difference nearly every day. I had packed my clothes in layers on my first 4-Corners run and had to haul the big pack into the hotel nightly. This time I took a days worth of clothes and rolled them and placed them vertically in individual plastic bags. I also bought a mesh laundry bag that went into the large pack that rides in the back seat of the bike. As I would remove a rolled bag with tomorrow's clothes I would expand the laundry in the bag to take up the newly freed space. I the morning, I would take the prior days clothes and stuff them into the remaining space in the laundry bag. I only removed the large pack when I did laundry every 6-7 days. At the bottom of the bag, I placed the things that I would only use when I was doing laundry, so that everything that I was wearing could be washed as well. This included my prescription medicines that I would refill the 7-day pillbox that was in my shaving kit. The top layer that were placed over the rolled-up clothes was just a dry pair of jeans and the hooded sweatshirt on the very top.

The GPS unit was a critical piece of equipment throughout the entire trip. There were major stretches where I was traveling on country highways. On a motorcycle, you cannot pull out a map to determine where you need to go. It also helped me locate gas stations 40-50 miles before I needed them. It was designed for use on a motorcycle and worked well when using gloves. It also works where there is no cell service. There are still major portions of the Western US where there is limited or no cell service. Since I was traveling in Canada and Mexico, this was critical. I also appreciated that while I was passing through Quebec where all traffic signs are in French.

THE NUMBERS:

I covered 13,365 miles starting on August 8th and ending deep in the woods on September 4th. I had the bike serviced twice in Omaha and Vancouver. I had both tires replaced as well as a broken part in the transmission. Including the "California Missions" run in April, I consumed 413 gallons of premium gas, making 88 stops, and getting 36.5 MPG. The total fuel costs were $1,287 at an average cost of $3.12 per gallon.

On the 4-Corners run, I averaged 616 miles per day with the longest day covering 826 miles. The run from Kansas to Key West and back I drove 4,394 miles in 6 days for and average of 732 miles per day. I traveled through 19 states and 4 Canadian Provinces.

WHATS NEXT:

I sat down last night and started planning another trip to hit 24 of the 25 National Parks, Monuments, and Historical Sites for a different ride sometime in the future. I am in no rush to get back on the bike for a long-distance ride.

THANKS:

I want to thank everyone who supported be through comments to this blog or to my Facebook posts, For a high school student who hated to write anything, I have enjoyed recalling my adventures in this medium.

Thanks for all of your prayers. GOD BLESS...