So, I decided to ride from Fargo to Sturgis. 468 miles, over 7 hours, and through no-man's-land!

Packing my bike from 08:00 until starting a work shift from noon until 23:00, then hitting the road sounded good, but the temps dropped to 55 in the country, and at 85 mph that is very fatiguing.

Near sunrise I was just into South Dakota coming out of a fog bank when I spotted two bright dots floating in the fog! brakes! deer! Damdest thing, a doe on my right standing in the emergency stopping lane and a huge buck in the opposing traffic's lane both looking at each other. I had been able to slow down to nearly a full stop right between them. This angered the buck, as he lowered his head glaring at me and scraping his front hoove, I throttled away just in time as I felt his horns lightly strike my ribs.

I made it 308 miles and My bike died. the speedometer started freaking out about 7 miles before, 2 miles with complete failure all of the electrical system (except what runs the engine) then it died.
I happened to coast up to the top of a hill right to a farmer's driveway. The only farm for many many miles. Any of you who have been in the Standing Rock Reservation hwy 31/65 knows this could be deadly, especially with the 95 deg + heat last weekend.

How quick and intense the heat came was unusual, even the locals said so, it was 55 degrees F and within an hour after the sun was fully above the horizon it was well in the 90's!

5 people came to my aid here, they helped me take my bike apart and recharge the battery, well that got me 38 miles, where, by some miracle, I coasted into another farmyard and was able to get a very strong charge on the battery with the help of another farmer and his son.

I don't know how many of you know farmers, but if you get a chance go out and visit some, you'll have the best conversations possible, especially in the very secluded areas.

This new charge ran my motorcycle right up to the gates of the Buffalo Chip, at this point my bike and my cell phone were both dead. Bob, head of security there, charged my phone, kept me company and gave me a ride to my son's campsite, where he was staying with his mom and her boyfriend and other friends.

I had alot of fun, even without a bike to ride. Saturday night I over drank, got lost walking back to the campsite, there was a group of people who were just driving around that found me and helped me find my way!

But the people I was depending on from Fargo refused to help me!!! Except my son, he stood by me and fought hard to help me throughout the ordeal.

Hog roadside Assistance paid $100 and I paid $70 and my bike and I were in Rapid City, Sunday they replaced my Battery and Voltage Regulator, warranty covered it (yes I have aftermarket Slip-ons), but they were near closing and did not take the time to see why the voltage regulator failed.

Well, we made it 64 miles north of Rapid City and coasted into a newly built ranch, the only one for 30 miles, but no one was home. I did tap into their well though, ya know, survival.

As we were walking the 1/2 mile long driveway to the house, Wyatt turned to me and said "You know...., this IS how alot of horror movies start." Humor within our own horror, lol.

HOG roadside Assistance said the out of pocket cost from there back to Rapid city will be near $500. Ridiculous!

A family from Manitoba was retrieving a rental and told me they would haul my bike to Rapid City and give me a ride to Fargo. While Waiting for them to get back, a couple from Dickinson, ND in a very small SUV stopped, and I asked them (jokingly) if they could haul me and my bike to Fargo. They said we need to go to Dickinson and get her pickup and as long as I pay for gas, she would (he needed to get to work early).
And She did! They drove me 6 extra hours to Dickenson, back to my bike, helped load it, then back to drop Brian off in New England, then Lisa drove me to the Fargo Harley Davidson Dealer, then to my home.

How is it that during this trip I had about a dozen total strangers who had the compassion and willingness to help (a fellow biker, biker, human) someone who is in trouble, while people I thought were friends intentionally left me because it interferes with their plans and schedule?!?!?!?!?!??!?

I am not religious, but, Someone was definitely looking out for me last weekend.

 

All that trouble on a new M8 over a relatively short distance? Wow, I hope you get it sorted out.

 

Pics. or it never happened !...b.

 

 

SD turning onto 65, Sunrise, had to stop and rest.


Second time died, north of Isabel, SD Made a good picture.


This is an excellent charger.


Wyatt sent me their location on the chip

 

of course......
there was this:







is that what you really wanted?

 

 

The life and times of a long distance motorcycle rider. Good adventure with good people along the way to help.

I suggest you get the extended HOG towing thingy.... unlimited mileage (to the closest HD dealer) and unlimited pick ups. Its not much of an additional charge. I got it when I was traveling to Alaska last year, and at one point the closest dealer was about 1,000 miles. I have had my 017 on the deck three times now, no charge.

 

 

Fargo HD told me that they spent 4 1/2 hours working on it, disassembled and inspected, tested everything, let it idle untill really hot, then rode for 60 miles and they had absolutely no trouble. The bike worked perfectly for them. In my experience, intermittent electrical troubles are very difficult to trace.The service advisor told me HD MoCo won't reimburse dealers unless they can find the problem. He asked me to ride as much as I can this weekend, but when the issues just start to show, in this case the speedometer and electronics turning on and off, to shut it down right away, so there is a little battery left to maintain the codes.