There are two ways to deal with that. Pay for roadside assistance and towing, make sure its a plan that has good coverage. I drive older vehicles, and I have never needed it, but I have it. I wouldn't hesitate to take any of them on a long trip. Well maintained, its not an issue. That said, if I was Uncle Phil, I'm not sure I would have bothered renting the truck and bringing the bike back when the timing belt failed. I'm not emotionally attached to vehicles. I probably would have left it with a junkyard, mechanic, etc. and mailed them the title. Given that ST1100's are cheap and plentiful, it may not have been worthwhile to bother. Go get another. Whatever the cost of retrieval, that's the "downpayment" of the new machine. You can only do this with old vehicles that have "no value" in the marketplace. I have no idea what UP spent to retrieve and repair his bike, and I know why he did it. But it wasn't the only option.
I find it interesting that the viewpoint of keeping what you have, and defending the keeping of the ST is seen as odd. The OP appears to be asking himself exactly that. If I had to buy a bike tomorrow, I'd pickup a nice ST1100. Cheap, common and capable. Oh! I already own one! I'm all set then. I like the FJR, and BMW F800GT, but likely price would put me back at the 1100.