Getting home when your bike breaks down - and you're 1,800 miles away!!!

Uncle Phil said:
Just landed back in the Holler, SweetTreat is unloaded and Big Bertha is back at UHaul.
Been some long days but it's done and ...

NO ST LEFT BEHIND.jpg

Big thank yous to Obo, BMacleod, and Kerbside with their willingness to physically help and Tri County Towing for their many kindnesses in the process,
and the whole forum for their kind encouragements!
Click to expand...
Oorah!
 
Uncle Phil said:
Just landed back in the Holler, SweetTreat is unloaded and Big Bertha is back at UHaul.
Been some long days but it's done and ...

NO ST LEFT BEHIND.jpg

Big thank yous to Obo, BMacleod, and Kerbside with their willingness to physically help and Tri County Towing for their many kindnesses in the process,
and the whole forum for their kind encouragements!
Click to expand...

Yeyyyy. At least there is no oil on the floor.....
 
Nice! Glad you‘re home safely…now the work begins (but wait til it’s cooler out). Apologies for recommending ditching the bike originally. I hope the U-Haul wasn’t too ridiculously expensive.
 
The border crossings were no problem at all either way.
Coming back, the US agent was a rider so we talked a little bit about places we both had been.
The biggest challenge on the way back was the truck did not have cruise control and the top speed (evidently on purpose) was 74-75 mph.
That meant many long hours of 'foot pressure' and real challenges when most everybody on the interstate can go faster than you!
Passing other vehicles slightly slower was a major ordeal.
BTW, Highway 9 in Vermont is a real mess from the Royal Diner all the way and over Hogback Mountain.
They have taken the road down to the gravel base and many sections are one lane (lots of 'stop and wait').
I do not recommend taking a bike through that area because if it gets wet it will be slicker than snot!
I came that way to over the major train wreck on I495 I encountered coming up - 3-4 hours to cover 30 miles and there was no wrecks, construction, or police.
 
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Looks like the truck rental came to about $1,200 USD and that included full insurance if anything happened to the truck.
I got 6 days to get it home and 2,034 miles in the deal (actual was 1,800+ miles).
What was crazy is that it was cheaper to rent in Nova Scotia than to rent one in Bangor Maine which is a bit closer to the Holler.
I checked that option in case I could not take the truck across the border.
Gas was dreadful (the truck got about 11 MPG) so a fill-up was way north of $100 - worst one was over $120.
I also asked the cabby that took me to the rental place how much cab ride to the Halifax airport (nearest international one) would be - $225 CDN.
 
Uncle Phil said:
Just landed back in the Holler, SweetTreat is unloaded and Big Bertha is back at UHaul.
Been some long days but it's done and ...

NO ST LEFT BEHIND.jpg

Big thank yous to Obo, BMacleod, and Kerbside with their willingness to physically help and Tri County Towing for their many kindnesses in the process,
and the whole forum for their kind encouragements!
Click to expand...
Excellent news Uncle Phil. Did that 10 foot come with a ramp? Good to go. I said some prayers for you. Stay safe.
Let us know the prognosis of the engine or are just giving it the heave-ho?
Dave
 
dtcoleman said:
Excellent news Uncle Phil. Did that 10 foot come with a ramp? Good to go. I said some prayers for you. Stay safe.
Let us know the prognosis of the engine or are just giving it the heave-ho?
Dave
Click to expand...
No ramp but it did have rails so we could strap it in.
The tow company loaded the bike back on their flat bed and lined it up with the truck so I could roll it right in.
Getting it off was a 'thriller' as I backed the truck up to a slight incline and set up the ramps that I have.
They were a little short so it was a little steep but I managed to get it off without dropping it (but I got awful close to it).
The engine is toast - it spins with the starter like a top so there is no compression - at least one bent valve per cylinder.
I'll just remove parts I can use and give it a heave-ho when I'm done.
But that's a project for later as there some more pressing ones in front of it.
 
Uncle Phil,

Glad you made it back home safe and sound. My friend and I rode the Trans Labrador Hwy in 2008 on the then new, oil burning, electrical shorting KLR650s. I had a major wiring short south of the Maniq 5 hydro dam……my buddy’s KLR ran low on oil and locked up solid in the same location which involved a 250 mile round trip on a flat bed wrecker for him. I got my bike rolling but he had to UHaul his KLR back to Cleveland where we started. It cost him around $1500.00 for the rental and fuel. Our border crossing was easy and the officer was quite sympathetic to our ordeal.

We know you have a fleet of ST1100s…….when are heading back up to Nova Scotia?
 
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