Bob & I left the group to prepare for a wild time at the beach. What we wore was good enough for two days. When we passed the Gap town clock it said 12:30 AM This was almost a straight run to the Delaware Bridge. I leaned into a curve, on an old 2 land road, lots of that on route 41. A small town was getting closer & closer, I was doing 80 MPH.
As the buildings started to fly by, I saw an old station wagon approaching. When he passed us going the other way, clouds of oil leaking into the combustion chamber blinded us. I hit the brakes slowly. I did now want to lose traction and lay down the bike.Luckily the road was straight. For a few miles, I stayed about 60 MPH. Then the "not me" bug hit again.
The smell of burning oil reminded me of our time in the Flying Dutchman u-control model airplane club. That is where I met Bob. Model airplane engines burner Castrol oil and smell like the fog left by the wagon. More about my flying days later.
I was tired, so Bob said he would drive, we were about half way there. Bob and I trusted each other. Whether it be bikes or cars we knew the other guy was just like me. He said he was asleep over one hour, he was ready to take his turn. I had a sissy bar on the back. Anyone I picked up I told them lean back on the bar. Some new people lean opposite the leaning bike for a corner. Leaning the wrong way the bike can dump you. It was my turn to catch some ZZZ's.
I don't knew how much later I was asleep, the bike was shaking violenty. Bob yelled, "hang on, the back tire is going flat". It was very easy for either tire losing air to dump the bike. We were doing about 80, Bob said. In the dark you cannot look at the back tire. He had enough sense to not hit the brakes too hard, that would have thrown us.
Bob said we passed an all night gas station about 3 miles back. There was a closed gas station about 100 yards ahead. We pushed the bike there. I took off side cover, and laid the tool kit on the ground. The bikes then had a center stand so the back tire was off the ground. We took the chain off, and removed the whole wheel and starting walking to the all night gas station. In the tool kit we had tire spoons to pop the rim of tire and pulled the tube out. They had a tub full of water to find the hole.
Nothing in the tool pack, so that was not a problem. If you run a long way with a nail or piece of metal or glass it makes a bigger hole in tire and that must be patched too. It was 35 cents for the tube patch. He was a biker so he did not charge for use of the equipment. I gave him a dollar, I said drink a beer for us! He said thanks, be careful cops on prowl tonight.
One stopped as we were walking out. He rolled down his window and said that your bike broke down couple miles back. I said yes, can you give us a ride back there. he said sorry I headed other way! About half way back I saw headlights behind us. As he got closer I put my thumb out for a ride. It was the cop, he hit the horn before he gunned the gas, I gave him the Finger! Should not have done that!!
We got the wheel and chain on. Bob continued as driver. I sat on back, to get more shuteye. I was half asleep, Bob yelled red light coming, police. We stopped, driver said put hands on hood of his car. Since Bob was the pilot they figured it was his chopper. The cops were about 2 steps away. I stepped back, my bluegene jacket had a pocket inside for a biker's wallet because the bike seat will push the wallet out of your back pocket. I stepped back, unzipped my jacket and reached inside my jacket for my wallet. All Hell broke loose.
The driver put the shotgun barrel against the back of my neck and flipped me on the hood. The passenger office drew his pistol and pushed Bob up on the hood too. I figured we both would have to change our underware. The officer reached in my jacket and retrived my license. frisked both of us. He said in a very LOUD voice, Gentlemen never make a police officer think you are reaching for a gun at 3:30 in the morning on a dark lonely road.
He asked what we did to piss off the local cop, I told him how he made sure we saw him passing when he said he was not going our way, and I gave him the finger. They said he reported Cycle bums acting up! They said they had trouble with him before.
We thanked the Maryland State Police for not shooting us. They watched us drive off, Bob did not speed for at least 10 miles. Being 17, just graduated high school and on our first long outing the seriousness of the way we acted stuck. Even 52 years later I am thankful the officers did not overact! I only met these officers one brief time 52 years ago, but they changed my outlook on life. you must look at things from both sides, to see how things really look.
Every now and then I still have trouble looking at both sides. We ran out of gas about 10 miles from the flat tire. A closed gas station was near. Since the hoses are attached high and a lot of gas remains in the hose if you do not hold up the nozzle to drain it. that is what we do. Free gas, the more pumps the more gas. From 4 pumps we got about one gallon of gas. Since we were not breaking anything we figured it was not stealing.I was told how to do this from other bikers. Small tanks then were a pain, not many stations open all night.
We left, hoping nothing else happens till we get there.
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