HellHounds and BreakDowns

Our trip out to L.A. and back for the Born Free 2 had no plan, no route, and we had no idea what was gonna happen along the way. We stayed where we wanted - camping out under the stars, hotels, friends' garage floors...yeah. We came across a few problems before hitting L.A., but took care of them once in the city. Most of our problems came on the ride home.

Unforeseeable, Charlie's pipe-wrap was covering up tears in his pipes near the engine ports. Friends, and fellow Sinner brothers to Irish Rich - Brawny(Hapa Is Prapa Blog) and Dustin, hooked us up with pipes and the needed shop to fix our problem. A big thanks goes out to both of those guys for lending a helping hand when we had no one to help us.

Next, Charlie's stator and regulator took a shit on us in Kingman, AZ. Luckily, there was a HD dealer in town that hooked us up, sort of. They changed out Charlie's regulator and wiring, but never checked the stator even though they told us they were going to. Therefore, with a new regulator, wiring, and battery, we took off down Route 66 thinking our problems were behind us. Hell no. We got to Williams, AZ and found that Charlie's bike wasn't actually fixed.

A small bike shop located right off of the highway couldn't help us, but they called ahead to Rick's Cycle in Flagstaff and asked if they'd stick around after-hours to get Charlie fixed up. They agreed, so we tore over to Flagstaff and they fixed him up after a few hours of us beer drinking and wondering what was coming next.

The sun was setting when they finally finished up on his bike. We took off into the night for the Grand Canyon. 80 miles through wooded, deer and elk infested twisty roads. We got behind a truck and stayed on his ass to avoid the wildlife, only to get pulled over when entering the Park. We hadn't gotten more than a quarter mile into the Park and we had already gotten kicked out - at midnight. So, we pulled off on a side dirt road and bedded down in the woods for the night.

The next day was our last of the trip. 700 miles of heat, speed, wicked sand storms, freezing cold mountain passes, and frustrated bickering - all in good fun though. A long day on the road can make anyone snap, this day was no different, but we laugh every time we talk about it....