So, when we last left off I
was tooling down I-90, stressed, running on empty, climbing an overpass and
heading for an exit which might have gas.
The engine dies, it is completely out of gas.
My efforts to restart fail.
Fortunately an object in
motion tends to stay in motion.
I am coasting
my 800 pound motorcycle on top of the overpass and have a downhill run to the
Ranchester Wyoming exit.
My spirits are lifted.
Fuck yea! Surely there will be gas near the bottom of
the exit.
I am going to make it.
I hit the exit still moving
at 30 MPH.
No one runs me over as I am
now travelling at well below the 75 MPH speed limit.
The anticipated service station at the bottom
of the exit does not exist.
Fuck noooo.
The town of
Ranchester lies off to my right.
It is
downhill.
There is hope.
I run the stop sign and keep
coasting. My bike is getting slower and slower.
I cruise the main drag at a walking pace until the bike will go no further.
I tilt the machine. I rock it. It will not start.
There is no nearby gas station. There is a
gas station 3/4 of a mile ahead.
My
coasting ends on Main Street with the gas station in sight but no more momentum
to get me there.
So I come to a stop on
Main Street.
Salvation is in view but I
will not be riding there in style.
The bike
will not start.
One does not push a Honda
Goldwing.
Or at least not very far.
So I walk.
I am the only pedestrian in Ranchester.
Several bikes ride by me.
They are obviously better planners than I
am.
I buy an $18 gas can, fill it
up and make my walk of shame back to the bike.
The woman at the store told me I was lucky. They had no gas the day before.
A Goldwing will hold 6.9
gallons of fuel when empty……..