Departing from the city of angels was when I felt as if we were heading home. The Grand Canyon wasn’t far and we were definitely looking forward to it yet I couldn’t help but feel as though we were traveling towards the end of our journey. The later halves of our days would now consist of the long and losing fight of falling behind our own shadows.
After the Grand Canyon our next big stop is New Orleans so all that Texan space in between would go unacknowledge by us as time was simply not on our side. Our excitement levels are meager coupled with the fact that we are scheduling some high mileage days so as to get to Louisiana as quickly as possible.
Empty highways with no sign of the law encouraged blocks of faster traveling, so much so that 65mph felt sluggish and laughable. We fought through the heat and random gusts of wind, expecting a routine to emerge but by now we know better. Today would be the biggest turning point in our plot when I unknowingly lose Bruno miles back. Gomes and myself coast over to the shoulder and wait for Bruno who’s coming in at a calm 40 some odd mph towards us.
He explains that the temperature gauge had went up higher than normal and shortly there after he started to lose power. Clearly that explanation points to overheating but we have no idea to what extend the damage may be. We aren’t far from a town with motels and it isn’t dark yet so we wait for the bike to cool down in hopes that it’ll be fine afterwards.
It definitely fires up but now the oil pressure light is flickering. To not hurt the bike anymore, Gomes bike will have to come to the rescue and tow Bruno to town.
We let the CX500 cool off over night while we finally get to do some laundry and get more work done. The following morning brought about a few errands. Upon checking all the bikes we notice that oil levels are low across the board. Bruno takes my bike to purchase fluids while I begin partially disassembling Gomes’ bike to double check that the radiator still has coolant. Everything checks out and by the time Bruno is back we quickly add oil accordingly.
All suited up, we head out of the parking lot where Bruno pulls ahead to give his ride a test run up and down the Main Street. From where myself and Gomes stand he isn’t going very fast; what’s going on? Upon his return, Bruno says what we saw was him at full throttle. I fear we might have quite an issue and suggest finding a mechanic that might be open on this Labor Day to run a compression test. Luckily there’s one down the street and after explaining our situation someone comes out with a little red box. He passes me tubes and a gauge that I hook up to where Bruno’s spark plugs used to be.
We get about 90 to just under 90 PSI per cylinder. Not good; a quick search via the iPhone claims the correct reading should be 150-170 PSI per. It sinks in that Bruno will not be continuing this trip. He has a hard deadline that we already were just barely going to make, which at this point left absolutely no margin for anymore break downs, yet here we are. Figuring out how he’s getting home becomes the next game we play. Rent a pick up to take him and the bike? Ship the bike and catch a flight? Ship the bike and rent a car to drive back? Get a box truck from Uhaul?
Process of elimination commences which doesn’t take long given the fact it’s Labor Day and just about anything in this small town, and neighboring towns for that matter, are closed. The most plausible option becomes a box truck from Uhaul in Amarillo, TX to load the bike into and drive it all the way back to Jersey. Problem is Amarillo is an hour and half east from where we currently sit. Do we tow Bruno’s bike with Gomes’ all the way there or do we leave the bike and back track to come and get it?
The shop we were in front of says we can leave the bike out front and that no one was going to mess with it. With a bit of re-organization, all the gear on Gomes’ passenger seat goes on my bike to make room for Bruno. The three of us head to Amarillo on two bikes with the idea of loading up the two bikes in the Uhaul only to return to Tucumcari, NM to then load Bruno’s bike as well.
On the way back in the Uhaul’s cabin, the three of us negotiate the rest of our journey. Bruno has a certain amount of miles and days included in the price for the Uhaul so we figure by changing the whole trip’s trajectory the three of us can make use of the Uhaul and spend some more time together. We decide that Memphis, TN is in our future, from there Bruno will head home to Jersey and myself and Gomes will shoot straight down to New Orleans to pick up where we left off.
It’s an unfortunate turn of events to say the least but humorous to look back on as every hour that passes while covering these 800 miles to Memphis brings us to laughter when reciting the details that describe the fact we are in a Uhaul with three motorcycles packed up when this was supposed to be a motorcycle trip. Ironically enough, the truck has 4 rear wheels plus the two in the front allowing us to stay true to our name; 6 on Asphalt.
