Gator 1000 or The Ride That Wouldn't End--Part 1

On March 10, Mike and I attempted and completed the IBA Gator 1000, a Saddlesore 1000 ride that was all in the state of Flordia. This one was different in that we would have rally flags with indetification numbers on them and have to stop at predetermined spots and take pictures of our flags at each spot. Sounds fun and simple...oh if only it were true in our case.

The plan was to start with the group at 0545 and be done in about 19 hours (Mike did all the preliminary route calculations from the IBA intended route). The route was to take us from Jacksonville, to Palatka, Leesburg, St. Petersburg, Naples area, accross Tamiami Trail to Miami area, down to Flamingo then back up to Key Largo, then up to Daytona and finish back at Jacksonville. That was the route we were supposed to start and finish. But we ended up doing a little more than that.

We left the hotel at around 0555 and headed toward Palatka. It was a beautiful morning...NOT! The weather guessers had said 30% chance of "scattered showers", yeah right! Scattered right on top of Jacksonville and blanketing most of Florida from I-4 to the Georgia line. Being the true IBA riders we are, or wish we where, we heading out onto I-95 toward Palatka on our route.

We reached our first designated check point at around 0700 to get the first photo in Palatka in a steady down pour. We got our rally flags out, hooked them up, staged the photos and we were ready to roll again...almost.

At this point, the KawaTanker decided that she didn't like running in the rain. As I was starting out into traffic, she said "absolutely not, not gonna happen" She decided to just stop. I tried to talk sweeet nothings in her ear...no dice. I tried some flowery language and she turned a deaf ear to me.

As this was happening, Mike is out in traffic heading toward Leesburg and Gator H/D. I got on the radio and told Mike "Hey, I'm dead in the water here". He heard me and doubled back, got off his bike and helped me get it up the incline and back into a parking space.

We looked at the bike. We looked at each other. Back at the bike and the conversation went something like this:

M: What happened?
R: It just died
M: What'd you do?
R: I was trying to get out on the road and it just went 'Rrrrrr....' and died.
M: Did you try starting it again?
R: Uh...yeah. Want me to try it again?
M: Yeah, try it.

So with that, we started to trouble shoot the bike. Tried choking it, not literally but using the choke to help start it...nothing. We checked battery connections, nope. Next came spark check...that's good. Our next thing was to field dress the KawaTanker in the pouring rain.

Picture two grown men in full riding geat, still in helmets, stripping the tank off the bike in a parking lot with other bikes riding in and taking pictures of a stupid Gator statue with Tim Tebows' number on it. Well, that was us.

We checked everything on the bike that we could think of and some things we didn't think of. Nada, nothing. Mike even went and got some staring fluid spray and tried that. She wanted to crank over but no dice. At about 0815, we decided to call it, there was no way we were going to rececitate the KawaTanker, she was officially dead.

With some help from Natalie, Mike's wife, and one of my fellow teachers back at school, we got some phone numbers to call...at 0900 when the shops open. We retreated to BK for some coffee and to wash their floor with the puddles from our gear. I'm sure they appreciated that :)

At 0900 I started making calls. The first call was to the closest Kawa delear in St. Augustine. They will come and get it! Excellent! Wait, I gotta put you on hold...new guy comes on, nope, we don't do emergency pickup, instant depression. Next call to Palatka Powersports. Service manager says I'll see if someone can come get you and I'll get back to you. Calls me back, no dice but here is the number for towing and they are waiting for you to call. EXCELLENT. Call towing...be there in 45 to an hour! That is waiting for our call?

Fast forward to 1030. I get a call from towing, we'll be there in 10 minutes. Fast forward to 1100, towing shows up. I guess that Palatka time is different than Crystal River time.

When we get to the shop, we offload and the manager says he will work on it when he is done with the bike he finishing up. Mike and I look at each other and we realize that at this point our day is FUBAR. So, we settle into wandering around the showroom, calling loved ones...and Big Jim (I love Big Jim but in a manly way). Big Jim gives me the word that he is ready, willing and able to come get me is need; he had been following our journey on SPOT and realized that we had been at the same red light for an awfully long time.

After listening to a retired guy lament the fact that his bike didn't run and the manager saying "well, that will cost at least $200 to fix" I was think this day is going to get even worse. Mike and I were cracking jokes about everything at this point, from the use of 4 wheel motorcycles to the life story of the old guy and suddenly we heard KawaTanker trying to start back up. Is she still alive? Will she come back to life?

Sloshing around to the back of the shop, we saw her all wired up to life support with the service manager working on her carb. He tried to start her...Rrrrrrrr, nothing. Shot her with so go juice, Rrrrr...nothing again. He had me come over and massage her throttle while he tried again...rrrrrRoar! Success! KawaTanker is Alive!

Turns out, according to our doctor, ah, service manager, she had a bad transfusion of fuel and that I had to make sure she kept running or we would have to drain her carb again and put her back on life support. With that knowledge, it was decided to head back to Jacksonville to restart our quest later in the day. Time was now 1245.

To be continued....