the motorcycle had started really breaking down in arkansas. right before i rode into hot springs & found myself in the middle of a biker rally, as a matter of fact. god bless tucker & dick weed. they had me set up camp, fed me bacon wrapped deer & beans for every meal & someone worked on my bike like every five miles until it got going properly again. by the time i was more than half-way through the state, heading east, it was back at it again. wiring, starter & battery problems. i was mailing parts ahead to myself just to get home.
i had picked up a japanese closed battery, like really something. some serious cold cranking amps. thought it would really get me through. i had put another starter on earlier in the trip & was gonna charge this battery in a rest stop bathroom while i rebuilt this starter & maybe opened the bike up a bit & for the upteenth time to see what i could see with the wiring. you should see it. it’s a bit of a mess in parts. i don’t know what the previous owner was thinking. there was no reason to touch a damn thing. but the battery came charged, no need for anything, so i plop it in & get on down the road. i keep the last battery in the saddle bag, just in case there is a problem early on. well, there’s a problem.
i’m not even close to the end of arkansas for all i’ve been through here & i was just riding through, not lollygagging. really just riding to get home. i gotta stop as soon as possible now. my whole system is shutting down on the highway. lights, motor, everything. no battery, no nothing on this bike. it’s night & i got truckers flying by at high speeds & no street lights, plus one of those deep grooves that runs awkwardly in my lane that bikers love so much. yeah, i gotta find somewhere to deal with this now. right now. a state rest stop for truckers only is within a mile. truckers & bikers are very kind to one another, especially on the road. they won’t leave you stuck. the average driver will definitely fuck you over in a heartbeat.
so, i pull over & i’m tinkering with a flashlight in my mouth, half my pack on the wet ground. have to take it off to open the seat to get to the battery. i figure one of the connections was loosened. it kind of acted like that. my bike attracts a lot of attention. that & the fact that i’m a female biker alone on an obvious road-trip from hell. my little 440 is loaded, strapped & bungied. i check what i easily can & it’s not that. about that time a trucker comes up & asks me what’s up. i tell him. he says that japanese battery might not have been fully charged, even if it was supposed to be. good point, but the act of running the bike should have helped charge it. no, not necessarily so. running the lights & whatnot could possibly drain it more. small system i have here. wanna try a jump first before i charge it? see what that does? yeah, sure.
so we push it to his truck & he opens up his hood. he has a bank of batteries. that’s a eye opener. uh, sir? i don’t know about this. i don’t need all these batteries giving my little battery a jump. he says it’ll just be the one, not to worry. so we get out my little motorcycle battery jump cables & he thinks that’s cute. he pulls out his & puts them on. i’m still fully dressed for the night ride- leather boots, chaps & jacket & gauntlet gloves. i guess i had a glove off, i don’t know. i also don’t know what i was touching. i suppose the key &/or the starter button, or whatever, maybe i reached down & shook a cable, but i sorta remember the white lightning.
i sorta remember hitting the tree at full force. had to be 20 feet away. cracked the whole spine & i crumbled to the ground, moaning. i sorta remember the guy standing above me, i don’t know for how long. it was very nightmare/dream-like, deep garbled answering machine voice. i suppose he was asking if i wanted an ambulance. it wasn’t the first time i was asked this on this trip. in fact, i was asked this just a few days before, writhing in pain on a rest stop floor. thought i was having a virgin birth. apparently, i was having a gallbladder attack. i always say no. just no. i’m not explaining myself, but in all honesty, i’m not leaving my bike. i’m not having it towed, or stolen. it’s all i have & i’ve collected some cool memories from this trip. gone hunting for all sorts of stuff & met all sorts of people. for example, i met the woman that found the most perfect diamond in the world- the strawn-wagner diamond (named for her grandfathers, both famous men in that world that found special diamonds. she really took a liking to me. gave me pictures of her grandfathers. told me the stories of her family & gave me something to remember her by.) & many more things, but things like this, so fuck it, no. i really don’t know what just happened, but unless i can get help without getting my bike raped, especially in a foreign place, no.
so, the next day, i’m assuming, i start moving. apparently i’ve relieved myself, but i really have to go to the bathroom so bad the pain in my body can’t stop me from climbing the offending tree & popping a squat right there. i don’t even have focus yet. i’m lucky enough when i do look around on this side that it’s kind of pine forest for just a touch, at least where i’m looking right now. when i turn around, it’s all truck stop. it felt like it took 15 minutes to pull my pants up. god, i hurt & my mouth was so dry. my tongue tingled painfully.
when i turned around & started walking like a newborn deer, i saw three truckers standing over my bike. the seat still open, the battery still exposed. it was impossible to think. i wonder what i looked like. these guys were standing around my bike. one guy had a coke, one guy had a beer. as i walked up to them, i remember needing to pee real bad again, or it felt like it or something. the guy with the coke held it out for me, but i reached out for the beer & he gave it to me. i guzzled it. i looked down into the bike & the fucking battery was melted into a blob. i was starting to understand. tears started to come to my eyes. my poor bike. i asked for the bathroom & they pointed it out. i broke down in the bathroom. oh, my baby. i also chewed on a few aspirin.
back at it, the guys asked me what i planned to do. i showed them the last battery, but told them i thought it was no good, and what about this hot mess? one of them pulled out the blob of japanese battery with gloves while another one filled the old one up with water & put it in. the other one went & got someone with a car & brought him over & hooked me up, ran it for awhile. someone gave me cheese & crackers & a coke, while i ate & sat there in a stun. see? the kindness of strangers.
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