Big D: Unplugged

I wish I could say our ride to Yuma was uneventful. But I can't say that at all. Big D finished his motor at about 1:30 p.m. on Friday, and we left at about 3:00. (Got on the freeway at 3:10, so it was the 3:10 to Yuma). The bike ran GREAT! We rode to Yuma with Joker on his rented '09 Heritage, and Kickstand and Ice on their '08 Fatboy. We stopped in Gila Bend for fuel and Joker said he didn't need any, so we took off again. As we got near the exit for Dateland, the little blue sign indicated the next service station was 30 miles after Dateland. Joker rode up next to us pointing to his tank, so we stopped in Dateland. Joker didn't want to be referred to as the Gas-hole Masshole for running out of gas! :) While Joker fueled up, Big D and I took a few pics with Kickstand and Ice. Then we were ready to get back on the road. We mounted up, and Big D pushed his start button, and we heard, "click click click click click..." The battery was dead. WTF?! So luckily the tiny little service station we were at was also a tiny little general store. We bought a set of jumper cables for $18 and used the rented bike to jump the Sporty. (This was after Kickstand tried to push start Big D about 12 times.) Big D said, "I knew I should have replaced the regulator while I had everything torn apart. I'll go to HD when we get to Yuma and buy one." Now once the Sporty started, I knew Big D was going to get back on the freeway and ride the last 100 miles to Yuma like a bat out of hell, so I jumped on and hunkered down. I think we averaged 95 mph the rest of the way to Yuma. Once we got there, we lost our lights, so it was only a matter of time before the battery died again. I should mention that it was about 7:00 p.m. now, and getting dark. And we had our dark glasses on so it looked like midnight. We stopped at a Del Taco parking lot and put the cables back on the Sporty to get her going again. At this point Big D was getting a bit ornery. He told me to go inside to find out if anyone knew how to get to our hotel. I came back out and he was right behind me calling my name, but I didn't hear him because we just rode at 95 mph into a headwind for about a 100 miles. So he started yelling at me. Then I started yelling at him, because I didn't know why he was yelling at me. Luckily, Ice had a phone with some GPS action, so we got directions to the hotel, and it was only about 7 miles away. While we're waiting for the Sporty to get charged up, Big D gets this strange look on his face and laid down to do something underneath the bike. He got up and asked Joker to take the cables off the bike. He pushed the start button and she fired up immediately. "I forgot to plug in the regulator." was all he said. And that was all he needed to say. We all laughed our asses off and called him "Regulator" for the whole weekend! Once we got to the hotel, we checked in, unpacked the bikes, and hit Penny's Diner out front to get some grub. Guy, who is the Arizona BACA State President, and his wife Bambi, ate with us at the diner and then we went to the Hideout at Guy & Bambi's house and partied like rock stars until 3:30 Saturday morning. ;) I would just like to say that Joker was an awesome guest, rode it like he stole it all weekend, and we would LOVE to have him come back some time. We had a kick-ass time! Stay tuned....there are many more stories from Joker's visit to Arizona and our weekend in Yuma.

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