A Widow's Ride

After spending 3 days of attending sessions and hanging out with fellow motorcycle travelers, it was time to hit the road to head home. This time I wanted to take a different route and go through Yosemite Valley.  Believe it or not; I have lived in California for more than thirty years and I have never been to Yosemite yet.  While sitting around the campfire and talking to others about my route and where I should stop for the night, another rider suggested Benton Hot Springs and since I gave myself an extra day I thought it would be a perfect side trip.  Sandy of the Adventure Trio also heard about the hot springs as well and offered to ride together.  I was hesitant at first warning her that my little TW200 bike is no match for their BMW touring bike but she said that they don’t mind taking their time on this leg of the trip.  I was so soaked that I get to ride the Adventure Trio on part of their journey down to South America.

However, due to a late start and mechanical issue; none of us made it to the hot springs.  You’re probably wondering what happened?  First of all, during breakfast, we checked the weather to make it would be safe to head over Tioga Pass and onto Route 395. It looked like the storm will be north of us and it will be clear sailing.  Well it wasn’t long into our ride that it started to rain.  Then as we started the climb up toward Tioga Pass, I started losing speed as if I was hitting reserve.  I thought that was weird since we just filled up not long ago.  So I immediately reached down and switch the petcock onto reserve but I still was losing power.  It when I tried the throttle to give it more power, I knew that something was wrong.  So I pulled over to investigate it further and it was Terry from the Adventure Trio that figured out that I broke my throttle cable.

Since there was no cell phone reception, Sandy used InReach which is a satellite communicator and tracking device to send out SOS messages.  Suddenly the Forest Ranger showed up and requested a tow truck.  While we were waiting for the tow truck, it started snowing.  The tow truck never came because it kept being diverted due to multiple accidents caused by bad weather.  So the Ranger decided to take me to a camp ground to hunker down for the night since they’re closing the pass. We had to leave the bike on the side of the road. Once I got the tent set up at the camp ground, I walked over to the gas station to call my son from a pay phone to come pick me up with the trailer.

While waiting for him…I met a fellow rider who also broke down was waiting for his friend to picked him up.  His bike mechanical issue was due to the ignition coil. Once his friend showed up and they decided to fetch my bike to take it back to the campground.  We were able to retrieve it before they closed the gate on the pass.

My son finally arrived at 3 am to take me home and as he put it “Operation Rescue Mom” was a success.

All in all, it was an adventure! I learned a lot at the event and learned a lot on the trip itself. I need to do some fine tuning to get ready for my trip next year.