Little Pink Houses

After spending a truly epic day riding The Dragon (318 curves in 11 miles!), I grabbed a beer and headed for my campsite at Indian Boundary. It rained all night as I was safely tucked inside my tent, nice and dry. The next morning, I packed up and swung my leg over my bike, prepared for another day of riding the twisties. I gave the starter button a push, but the bike wouldn't turn over. I had spark but no fuel, and I couldn't hear the fuel pump pressurize.

The previous day I had walked into Mike's Tellico Motorcycle Outfitters shop and he had exchanged a faulty bmw accessory plug for free. I knew that if anyone would know what to do it would be Mike.

I hitched hiked the 20 miles or so down to his shop and pleaded my case with him.

"Why don't you go and get breakfast and I'll make some phone calls, we'll see what we can do."

I went and had breakfast at the Tellico Grains Bakery - delicious by the way, and if you're ever in the area, please treat yourself to one of their scones.

Anyway, went back to Mike's shop and he said that his friend Tom would be by shortly with a trailer and he would take me to a shop that a friend of his owned and they'd fix the bike. - Fantastic!

Sure enough Tom shows up with the truck and we head out to get my bike. Tom is a retired forest service worker that just returned from a 30 day trip to Alaska on KLR! I asked Tom why he was helping me, he replied, sort of dumbfounded at the question, "Mike called me!?!".

We eventually arrived at Dan Dickie's shop GSM MotoRent. Thinking it had to be the fuel pump, we ordered one to be delivered, but unfortunately, it wouldn't arrive until Monday. Dan offered to let me camp in his backyard and even invited me to his BBQ/family reunion that he would be hosting on Saturday. He set me up with a shower and place to store all my stuff too.

The next morning Dan came out to my tent and explained that he thought he figured out my bike's issue and that it wasn't the fuel pump after all. You see motorcycles have a "safety" switch that will not allow the bike to be started with the kickstand up. I knew this, but I ruled it out because, why would the German engineers lockout the fuel pump AND the ignition?? Well, sure enough, bypassing the safety switch allowed the fuel pump to come on and the bike start. Crisis averted.

I can't say enough good things about Mike, Tom, and Dan and their hospitality and willingness to help a fellow rider in need.

Not everyone can take 30 days off to tour the country, but if you're a motorcyclist, and you'd like to ride the Dragon, or any of these amazing roads out here please check out http://www.gsmmotorent.com/ - they have many different types of bikes available for rent, along with a beautiful cabin right on the river, heck Dan will even pick you up at the airport! You could have a really amazing 3 or 4 day weekend out here riding the local roads and trails.

And if you're out here and need gear, http://www.tellicomoto.com/ will put most West Coast outfitters to shame. Mike's store is well stocked, and the man knows adventure riding like few others.