I am fairly sure that I will not be able to capture the real magic of the last couple of days here in this post, but I will try.
Friday was sort of an up and down day all the way. Ultimate Cycle did all that they could with the bike, but without a replacement slave cylinder the bike was still crippled. I don't want to take back any of the good things that I said about the guys at that shop because they did the best that they could with what they had, and I appreciate that. They did clean the bike up for me, and for that I am grateful, she was in desperate need of a bath.
I called the central office in the morning to see about getting to a meeting at some point that day because that was still a priority for me. They were extraordinarily helpful and willing to make calls to find someone to give me a ride to a meeting. While waiting for the call back I got the bike back from the shop and found that it was worse than I expected, I could shift once I was moving, but starting and stopping was going to be tricky, so I made an appointment with the dealer in Nashville to get it repaired in the morning.
Then I started to panic. I began imagining all of the bad things that could happen while trying to get to Nashville and once in Nashville, and the result was going to be that I could not make it to Buffalo to see Mandy - I wanted to cry.
So I waited, pondered my fate and called a few people. I felt a little better after talking to people, but I really needed a meeting. Then Rodney came to the rescue. He called and said that he would be happy to come pick me up for an 8 o'clock meeting. I was relieved enough by this that I was able to take a little nap and wake up just in time for Rodney to show up.
He picked me up and we went to a meeting at the East Brainerd Club . It was a book study and a wonderful group of people. We went out for some food afterward and I felt tremendously better. Nothing like being around family to soothe my mind.
At one point Rodney and I were discussing the convention in San Antonio and he said that he knew one of the speakers. I told him that my favorite speaker was the final one on Sunday morning. He said, "Yeah, that's him. That's Steve. I know him. He's from Nashville."
Rodney said he was sure that Steve wouldn't mind him giving me his number. After all, I was family. So I went back to my room with a contact in Nashville and had one of the worst nights of sleep in my life. I was fearful, anxious, and my mind was racing about how tomorrow might go. It was terrible.
I woke up early and packed fast to get on the road. If something was going to happen on the way to Nashville I wanted it to happen early in the day. I geared up, got on the bike, said some hail mary's, pumped the clutch, shifted into first, and off I went. It had worked! I was able to powershift without the clutch and make it to Nashville. It was about a two hour ride and it went smoothly through the fog.
When I got to Nashville I got lucky with the first light and it turned green as I was approaching. The second light was red and I crept up on it as slowly as I could, but no dice, I had to stop. I pumped the clutch again and by some miracle that I may never understand it worked one last time and I was able to make it to the dealership, and salvation!
The guys at Bloodworth BMW were great. Jessie got to work on my bike right away and I went to find some breakfast. Wendall Smith's proved to a perfect little meal and great entertainment. There was an old man sitting at the counter next to me named Frank and he was obviously a regular. He would shout across the place at the waitresses and they would smile and answer him. I was feeling better and now had food in my stomach, so I knew I'd survive.
On my way back to the shop I walked past a little hair salon and decided that I had time for a haircut. (I didn't want to be too Grizzly Adams for Mandy.) I stopped in and got a cut from Moonstar, a wonderfully friendly southern woman. During the cut the phone rang in the shop. It was Johnny. After she got off the phone she explained that Johnny was an autistic man who worked at the tire store across the street. She said he was on vacation but his routine was still to call and check in with them every day. I was awestruck by the love and compassion she showed for this man whom many people would have thought to be a nuisance.
I got back to the shop and they said things were looking good and I would be ready to go in the afternoon. Before breakfast I had called Steve and left a message to see if he was around. By the time I got back to the shop he had called back and left a message for me. We were playing phone tag. We got hold of each other finally and made a plan for him to come pick me up for an 11:30 meeting! This couldn't happen anywhere else. (I had a brief thought about what the people in the dealership thought about me being in a town I didn't know and then suddenly having a local show up and treat me like an old friend and take me away. If I didn't know what was happening I would have thought that a little strange.)
Steve picked me up and I had the chance to thank him for what he had said the week before. I had wanted to that day, but couldn't fight through all the people to get to him. I may not believe in the dude in the sky every day, but there's gotta be something that helps line these things up.
The meeting was the Westminster Group, a little discussion meeting filled with joy and delight in sobriety. It was the perfect way for me to spend my time in Nashville. Thanks, Steve!
When I got back to the shop the bike was ready. I thanked the guys in the shop (Justin wanted me to make sure that you all know what well-mannered and handsome guys they are.) I even got to take a look at the culprit:
All the sludgy goop is what made it stop working.
So I was on the road again with a functional clutch and a goal of getting to Ohio. If I made it my day would look something like this: Start in Tennessee on Eastern time, cross through Georgia and into Central time, then back into Tennessee still in central time, then into Kentucky and the change back to Eastern somewhere there, then into Ohio. The states are a lot smaller over here, and it makes me feel like I am making more progress than I really am.
At around 8 o'clock I was getting hungry and stopped outside Cincinnati for a meal. I found a mallish looking place and pulled up in front of a burger joint, but want really feeling like eating a burger. I looked across the way and saw a little sandwich place, Potbelly. I went in and was greeted by Lindsay, and incredibly perky and sweet girl. "You look like you're on a bike," she paused and looked closer, "and you look tired."
I was getting tired, but was hungry more than anything. I told her about the trip and what I was doing, and she got so excited I thought she might jump out of her skin. She and her co-worker, Maddy, were enthralled with my story and kept asking questions. It was the perfect way to be refueled physically and spiritually to get me to Columbus. If you're ever in Cincinnati go find the Potbelly sandwich shop north of town in a mall. They fed me great food and made me feel incredibly welcome in their place. Thanks, Lindsay and Maddy!
I made it to Columbus and found what I believe to be the last available room in town due to a giant hot rod show in town, and slept better than I thought I could.
Thank you to all the folks along the way who turned two of the hardest days of the trip into two of the most rewarding and wonderful ones!
