Thursday, September 14, 2017

Day 13 - Helena, MT to Spokane...... wait, Missoula, MT?!?!

Day 13 - It certainly was. Expect the unexpected? On a trip like this you sometimes have to. After the misbehaving of the motorcycle over the past few days, I decided to stop in Missoula, MT at the biggest KTM dealer in the state to have them take a look at the bike.

It was a pretty cold rainy ride over the mountains to Missoula (only 6800 feet for this pass) and I even hit a little bit of sleet right at the top of the pass. The bike got me here fine, but I could tell there was something wrong. It just didn't have the power it should have and it hesitated whenever I hit the gas.

For my non-moto friends - KTM is an Austrian manufacturer. They make both dirt bikes and street bikes. Dealers in the US usually only sell the dirt bikes as the street bikes are not as popular - thus the familiarity of the street bikes is not that strong at some dealers. This will be the third KTM dealer  that I have stopped at on the trip, (jeez... you'd think I was a Harley rider) but it is the first one that really deals with the street bike line. 

I got to the shop right after they opened, told them the issue and they took the bike back to the shop. I did not have an appointment, so I had to wait for a while - nothing at all against them, they have been great about everything. They are also the ONLY BMW dealer in Montana, so it is a BUSY shop.

They got the bike on the lift, and figured out what the problem was - news I certainly didn't want to hear. The fuel pump was failing and needed to be replaced. They were already on the phone trying to get the part overnighted to them, as it isn't something that they keep in stock. If they could get it overnighted, I'd be on my way again tomorrow afternoon. 

A bit later, more bad news. It was too late in the day to get the part overnighted from KTM USA (on the east coast - 3 PM cutoff). There is no overnight delivery to Missoula on Saturdays - too small. The shop is closed on Sundays and Mondays, as most motorcycle shops are. Well, shit.

The earliest I am going to get out of Missoula is Tuesday early afternoon. 

I spent a good bit of the afternoon and evening changing travel plans, reservations, and giving John and Erin the bad news. The way it looks to be working out, is they will leave Seattle on Monday as planned, and I will catch up to them in Crescent City, CA - I'll have some serious miles to cover in those 2 days, but it can be done. The worst thing is that I will now not be able to see my sister for the few days that I had planned. I'll have to fly out soon for a visit with her to make up for it.

I got a hotel room for the first night, Kate hooked me up with a rental car for the next few days (something I hadn't even thought of) and I found a great AirBnB with a kitchen and laundry to check in for the rest of the time here.

After all the crap of today I needed some comfort food. For me, that is either Mexican food or Mom's gumbo. No way to get Mom's gumbo, so Mexican it was. So much green chile pork I couldn't even fit it all in the photo!




Bright side of the day:
  • All of the bike repairs are covered under warranty. As well they should be... I am not too happy with KTM right now.
  • A good friend of mine from high school lives very close by and I am catching up with her tomorrow to see where she works and have some lunch. We haven't seen each other in almost 30 years.
  • I met a super cool couple at the dealership who were in a similar situation as me. They are riding the continental divide trail from Canada to South America - all dirt roads and trails. That is super hardcore! They were picking their bikes up after being in town for 2 days for similar reasons. I wish them well on their journey.
  • As I was pushing my cart of saddlebags, topcase, helmet, etc into the elevator at the hotel, a guy asked me what KTM I rode. He is a KTM rider as well, and we chatted about why I was here, etc. He ended up giving me a ride to the airport to pick up the rental car. Bikers are good people.
  • There seems to be a lot of cool stuff to see in and around Missoula - I should have no problems finding stuff to do. Kate has already researched a bunch of cool things to see. How awesome is my wife?
Lemons - Lemonade 

Today's miles - 118

Total miles - 3004

3 comments:

  1. First off, your wife is awesome. Second, I am sure you thought there could be some unexpected items, and you are making the most of it. At least you didn't get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. Not the time to be having teething issues with the bike right ? I had hoped those issues were resolved when the found the petcock issue before you left. Well, at least Kate hooked you up and you ran into some very cool fellow bikers that were willing to help you out in a pinch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just checking in, to let you know I'm following you vicariously. And jealous, too, of your trip. Very nice to see you rolling with the random punches of travel. Usually, I've found, it's those days you weren't planning on that can be the most memorable (as this post makes clear)

    ReplyDelete