Picking up the new Bike!

We flew to Salt Lake City on Friday, July 20th to pick up the H-D that Dan won on ebay.  The bike was about 99% of what the pictures and write up showed, and we were really happy with it.

So it was about 100 deg F when we left Salt Lake City, so there was no way we could wear jackets.  Our route was great - just go north on Interstate 15!  It was a nice comfortable ride to Idaho Falls, where we spent Friday night.

Then we were up early on Saturday morning, donned our jackets and headed towards Great Falls.  We already had a room booked in Great Falls, so we figured we'd be there about 4 pm-ish.

Then, the most feared event happened ... we were north of Helena, and there's beautiful riding roads that sweep and curve and in a canyon.  It was awesome riding.  We had just finished a curve and as Dan was straightening up the bike, and we were running about 80 mph (speed limit is 75) there was a loud POP noise.  I figured it was a cable or something like that, because I felt it right beneath my seat.  Dan slowed down the bike and started pumping the brake.  That's when I knew something was wrong.  I just sat tight and waited for Dan to get the bike to the side of the Interstate - thank goodness there were no cars coming behind us.  Once Dan got the bike on the side, he flicked down the kickstand and rested the bike.  I said "What was THAT!?"  His answer ... "We just blew the back tire."  Deadpan, like it happens all the time.  We WHAT!?

Yep, the back tire blew on the bike, and Dan got us to the side of the road, upright, in one piece, with no damage to anyone or anything.  Awesome skills on the bike!

We had the bike towed to Great Falls ... here's some pictures of the loading of the bike on the tow truck.

We were towed to the Harley Davidson dealership in Great Falls, and by the time we got there, their techs had left for the day (we got there at 5:30 pm - fair enough).  So the next morning at 11:00 when they opened, one of their techs had the bike on the stand and changed out the wheel.  We got fantastic service from Big Sky H-D.  We're actually thinking that if we need anything major done, we should book a weekend down there and get them to do it!

We were on our way around 1:30 pm on Sunday afternoon, and we had to go through first US Customs for the bike paperwork, then around to Canadian customs for paperwork.  We were shocked how fast it all went.  US Customs - 4 minutes tops.  The line up at Canadian Customs to get through was the longest at 20 minutes, and once we went inside to give them the importing paperwork, that took all of 15 minutes.

Then it was just an easy ride home from there.

We'll have more pictures and stories this summer with adventures on the bike!