Day 5 and disaster strikes

Day 5 and disaster strikes

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I left Washington DC on time and even got great pictures. Moving on my next target was the skyline drive. Jeff told me this is one of the best scenic ride you’ll  get to where I was. Hearing this, I was riding to the northern part of the skyline drive to head down south more to Charlotte, North Carolina. the ride was great but on the way my second bracket that’s holding my exhaust snapped knowing this I had to go back to the closest town and do some quick repairs myself. I had two brackets holding it and the other one snapped already on the way to Washington DC. Without the brackets my muffler has no support and if I hit something like a bump or a pot hole my exhaust might come off.

I headed to Warrentown, a small town in Virginia where it was the closest to my current location. The drive back took me another 45 minutes just to reach the closest auto zone for basic parts. I reached auto zone and started to get the part I needed and fixed the exhaust bracket. I tried 3 types of brackets and none fit the profile so only solution is use something that could work until I reach to motorcycle mechanic on the way. after the installation. Headed back out on the road and it looks very stable already. on the roads am using the lanes and a two laner but its small enough that if two cars pass with each other they have to really slow down to pass each other.

In this area there was no service for me what so ever. The fact that I wasn’t getting any music irritated me but I left it since that’s the only thing that can tell me there is service on the area where I am in. This went on for the next 30 min and I was getting close to my next destination. on the last stretch of road that will lead me to the skyline drive there was a truck that I caught up to. I tailed him for the next 2 miles but I wasn’t pushing him to go faster since the speed limit is 45mph on the road. on a section on an uphill and downhill with no turns coming in, he decided to let me pass. How I knew this? He slowed down giving close to 20 mph and I knew he wanted me to pass since the road is empty and turns were coming in. I saw this and took advantage of it. I speed up close to 30-35mph and passed him on the left lane. Half way in the road seemed to narrow and this lead me to the gutter on the left side of the road. The front wheel went on the gutter and it dropped 6 inches from the road. I Lost control of the bike skid myself falling on the right side and spun and hit the grasslands back on the left side of the road. The truckers stopped and called 911. I tried to stand up and waited with the bike in less than 10 min the ambulance and the police came in. The officer looked at me and came close and ask me what happened .. I told him what happened and then he asked me “Do you know where you are?” I replied am currently in Virginia somewhere headed to skyline drive. The officer helped me push it on the other side of the road. and lead me to the ambulance. On the ambulance they asked me few information. Then the officer came back inside and asked me my license and my insurance. He then introduced himself as Deputy Moline. He went back to his car and checked the information I gave him. While the medics where checking my stats they suggested I should go to the hospital to do some test and x-rays. Deputy Molina came back and told me that’s its wise to go to the hospital first and he can call a local towing company to get the scooter. I then agreed and they took all my personal stuff with me and returned my IDs.

Reaching the hospital they cleaned my wounds and dressed it. They told me we will be running some tests just to be sure everything is ok. I haven’t really seen my face in the mirror but my face sure does hurt. I used my phone and used the camera. I saw my eye socket was swollen and my cheek and my lips got some road rash. Seeing my eye looked like I was in the ring with Many Pacquiao and got a great hit on my eye and face. Seeing this now am thinking maybe I fractured my eye socket. The did run some tests on the part I left pain. They performed both x-rays and CAT scan. After a while they said it all negative and I can leave if I want to. I packed my stuff up and asked a few things. I asked if can get some food since I had nothing since the night before and second if I can get some motels that are nearby. They suggested few hotels and called up one and reserved my stay for 2 days.

I walked out of the hospital and made my way through the motel. It was about a 5 min walk. Nothing felt bad in my body except my face and some road rash on my hands which they wrapped. I checked in and as soon as I got in my room and the first thing I did was check my things and call the deputy for the information on my scooter. I called the deputy twice and he still wasn’t responding. I checked my gear and my right gloves were all torn up. My jacket that has armor had a scrape on my right shoulder. My helmet though got most of the damage. Looking at it I got the bruise  on my eye not from hitting the road but my helmet hitting the road and the impact gave me the big bruise. I then called it a night and rested.

The next morning there were some thing going through my head. One of them is if should push on. I wanted to cause I know I had no major damage and all I have to do is let my swelling go down and it should be good. I did remember the bike’s front tires got misaligned and figured they could just be like a bicycle and you can twist them back in. I was determined there was no major damage.
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I went to the complimentary breakfast and went back to my room after i had my fill. My phone then rang and when I picked up it was deputy Moline. He asked me if I was doing ok and feeling good. I then told him “I am good deputy but hows the scooter?” He then replied to me “The towing company said its bad and I don’t know if this is still in working condition.” Hearing this I kinda denied it and told him “That can’t be right i left the bike and I only say the front wheel misaligned. He then told me “I can give you the phone and am sure you can arrange something with them to drop it off to you.” I thank him for all his help and called up the towing company. The towing company is waiting for a driver to come back and from there they can deliver it to me.

I got a call from the towing company and they are delivering to me in the next 20 minutes. I got another call in the next 20 min and the driver told me he was outside. He then told me its 300USD cash for the service. The least of my concern right now is money I just wanted to inspect the scooter. Looking at the scooter I was thinking why would tell the deputy that it’s not on riding condition anymore. It look ok while the driver was unlocking it from his flat-bed. The driver did mention that the front panel where it closes off the battery and electronic stuff is breaking loose and he had to use a bungee cord to hold it. He then left and I preceded my inspection.

The obvious was the front wheel. It so misaligned. I checked whats connecting the wheel and saw the forks were bended up. I then my initial reaction was awwww nooo…. I knew if its something like that its a major problem. I also lost my right signal and my camping bag got the best of the road rash.

If you guys are wondering what a road rash is it’s basically when you drag something and let them hit the pavement.it scrapes any layer and burns it at the same time. In my body i only have it on the side of my lip and on my hands

After the full inspection the next thing to do is start her up. The ignition was also misaligned and i had to open it and make sure the key goes in correctly. Upon start-up the sound was different and I knew the headers became loose and need some tightening up. I turned it off and went back to my room to and instantly posted on a motorcycle group I joined in facebook to get information with a mechanic. In less than 15 min one of the user from the group posted some ideas and even gave me a mechanic that’s close by. I then went took off all the camp gear and equipment from the scooter and crawled it to the mechanic. This is basically about a half a mile from where I was and upon riding it the front wheel I can tell was a little wobbly and since it’s all twisted it looked like I was turning the handle bar but I was. I was just trying to keep it straight.

As soon as i got in the mechanic he then asked me what it was. I told him it was a ruckus replica and since they are a Honda dealer i know they will have an idea how to fix this. The mechanic couldn’t believe i made it that far with my scooter. He then inspected it and told me I was right with all the problems and he said “The fork might be bended but your triple tree is twisted.” Hearing this I knew its a bigger problem than just the steering stopper. If this bended out of shape on high-speed my wheel can respond differently on a bump or a pot hole. Not only that it may also affect my turning and also how it would eat my front tire reliability.

Hearing this I asked for his opinion since he knows at least I wanted to reach Florida.  He then tells me “You can push it but if your just going to do minor repairs the scooters reliability will be very unstable.”. Hearing this I know I can order the part, even find a fabricator to fix the frame handle bar rotor stopper. But how long will this take? How much will this cost. Having only limited time and money to do the whole trip this repair puts me in less money and less time to achieve my goal. I then decided to call the trip off and ship it back to NYC.

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