THe trip from Hell!!

I left home on 10 June on my way to visit my brother in Missouri and ryde with the SpyderLovers group in the run for the USO at Ft Leonard Wood. About 30 minutes from home on I-68, the skies opened up but I pressed on figuring I’d change into my rain gear at the first overpass. Guess what? I-68 has no overpasses!! So I rode for 6 hours through torrential rain, my kevlar gear now weighing about twice normal. UGH. I had chosen I-64 because I thought it would be more scenic than I-70. It might have been…IF 70% of it weren’t under construction with speed limited to 45 MPH.

I finally arrived in MO a day later than I had estimated. On 13 June, my brother on his Harley and me on my Spyder I met the other Spyder Ryders…Joe (xpeschon), Lee (Mo Lee), Andy (Midnighthog), Gene (BMWGENE), and captainryder…at Shoneys in Lebanon MO for brekkie. What a great bunch of guys!! The USO run was good and I’m glad I participated.

Left MO on the 15th headed home…this time by I-70 after my disastrous experience with I-64. I got as far as the Rest Area at MM 64 just west of Indianapolis. Spyder wouldn’t start!! VSS fault and DPS error…odd. Had to call BRP and request a tow. Tow truck came and the guy was SUPER in handling the byke. BRP said to have it towed to Diamond Collision in Indy. I questioned that but was assured they were the Indy place…got there and they WEREN’T? Now stuck with a byke that won’t start. Tow driver took me to a motel where I decided to go online. I should have taken the byke to Indy Cycle & Ski. So, the next day I called Road America and said I needed another tow. They informed me that it would be at my cost since BEST Plus only covers one tow every seven days!! What a CROCK! So, $187 later, I got the byke to Indy Cycle & Ski. They determined that the installation my dealer had done on my cruise control and my HID lights/fog lights was “the worst they had ever seen”. It was affecting the computer so they had the completely uninstall everything and return me to stock configuration but I’d have NO lights. I called my dealer and told them what happened and they were more upset over what I was told about the installation than the job itself. Decided I’d wait until I got home to pursue it further.

Sooooooooooo…two days (14 hours labor and another $1100) later I was finally on my way out of Indy. The rest of the trip was uneventful…not sure I could have stood any more excitement!!