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pened. I decided to try a jump and fortunately the next car to arrive had cables so we hooked them up and the bike came to life with a mighty roar. However when we disconnected the cables the motor came to a sudden stop. No choices now, get out the trusty cell and call Harley Roadside Assistance, best money I ever spent. Soon a flatbed tow was on the way, it did have to come from St. George 145 miles away but this would give me time to fulfill the part of the Posse Oath "sleep in the dirt." It was about 10 AM when the problem first reared its ugly head and at 6:50 PM Barb, the tow truck driver, my bike and I arrived at Zion Harley-Davidson near St, George UT. We were not worried about being so close to closing time as I had called ahead and the dealer told me the would stay open until We arrived. I was pretty sure what the problem was and they had a battery ready for me. After installing the new battery they check out my charging circuit and performed some diagnostics determining that the battery was indeed the only problem. Two and a half years old, thirty eight thousand miles and problems with a main circuit breaker I should have known and changed out the battery back in Baton Rouge. Oh well, live and learn. After the bike was back on the road we retraced a portion of the tow trucks route to Cedar City UT and booked a room for the night.
The next morning the silver lining to this not so black cloud became apparent. The opportunity to take Hwy 14 back across the pass traveled by the tow truck the day before. Beautiful scenery we would have missed. Our plan today is to return to Bryce Canyon and see those sights we missed then head north and try to reach Salt Lake City for the night. This day the sun was out and Bryce seem like a completely different park, just more silver lining. Upon leaving the park we opted to turn east on Hwy 12 and travel through Escalante and on to Hwy 24 and Salina. I had read of this road many years earlier in an article by Clemet Salvatore printed in American Rider magazine. In all my travels by Harley, 130,000 miles, this is the most beautiful road either Barb or I have ridden. Great vista's rock landscapes, miles of aspen forest (oh to be here in fall as the colors turn) and one section of a mile to mile and a half where I asked Barb to describe the view as I was going to concentrate on the center line. This was a section of two-lane asphalt road on the knife-edge of the ridge where the land fell away just beyond the fog line. As Barb said to me as we traveled along it was so beautiful it made her cry. The end of the day found us just north of Salt Lake City. We spent some time marveling at our great fortune to be able to take the time to see this great country as we had been the past four weeks. The next two days would find us motoring along the Interstate past familiar country headed home to Auburn WA. Our constant conversation was about the friends we had made, sights we had seen and the promise of next year's conclusion
Posse Ride 2005 the Eastern Campaign
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