Good News, Bad News...

 

Apparently, you are not able to appreciate the good times unless you have some less-than-good times.

The good news: the forecast was decent for today and we planned to get out on the scoots.  The bad news: we woke up to the rumble of thunder and the pitter-pat of rain on the roof.  The good news: the rain was supposed to move out by 11:00 or so.

The good news: I rolled the bikes out of the cargo trailer around noon.  The bad news: on my way to take garbage to the dumpster on the way out, there was something wrong with the back end of the bike.  The good news: we weren't out in the boonies.  The bad news: a flat rear tire.  I have a tire repair kit in my bike and an emergency compressor to pump up the tire.  Joan went back to the cargo trailer and got out our Worx hand-held compressor.  I pumped up the tire and we went back to our site.

The bad news: it wasn't holding air.  The worse news: because of the noise from the highway, I couldn't hear where the leak was coming from.  The good news: I called a motorcycle shop in Waynesville, and after me telling the young lady (Annabelle) on the phone what the tire size is, she said, "Let me go check to see if we have anything in that size."  The really good news: they do!  The so-so news: it is a Kenda (my 12th favorite tire choice).  The good news: their mechanics are out to lunch, but if we can get the scoot there by 2:00 (when they get back from lunch), they will get right on it.  And, I can get the scoot back today.

The bad news: Waynesville Cycle Center is 12 miles away, all highway.  I plan to top off the tire and try to get there before it goes flat again.  The good news: they are a Suzuki, Honda, and Yamaha dealer, so they should have some familiarity with the bike.  We took off from the campground around 1:00 and made it to Wyanesville Cycle Center around 1:20.  Joan followed me in the car.  I was really glad to have her back there, in case I needed to pull off the side of the road (and there isn't much in the way of shoulders on these highways), she could put her 4-way flashers on and divert traffic around me.  Turns out that wasn't necessary.

I went inside and met Duncan, the service manager.  I told him the situation and he said, "Ohh, that is an unusual tire size - let me check to see if we have one in stock."  I told him of my conversation with Annabelle and pointed at a tire that was leaning against the wall, "I bet that's it."  The good news: yes, that is it.  Duncan told me, "All my mechanics are at lunch, but I'll get my slowest guy on it when they get back at 2:00."

I asked, "Slowest, as in he moves slow, or as in the boy ain't too bright."

"Both," he said with a smirk.  I appreciate a sense of humor.  "It should be done by 3:00, maybe 3:30."  Joan and I left in the car and went to a nearby Hardee's for lunch.  Even taking our time, we were back to the shop around 2:00.  I checked in, met Annabelle (she is very nice, efficient, and professional); back to the car to let Joan know she can go back to the coach (no point in both of us waiting around), and I walked around their dealership to entertain myself...

They had a good selection of bikes: plenty of Suzukis and Yamahas, not a lot of Hondas.  But, they did have 2 Yamaha scooters: a Zuma and an Xmax (rare to see one of those on a dealer's floor)...

The good news: there was nothing on the sales floor that I'd rather have.  Around 3:00, I wandered back to the Service desk.  Duncan was on his way out.  He thanked me for doing business with them, gave me his card ("In case you need anything else while you're here") and said that my bike should be done shortly.  About 3:20, the mechanic brought out my keys and the paperwork.  Annabelle rang it up and I headed to my bike.  The price was fair.  The mechanic said, "That tire was about done for."  I thought it still had another 1,000 or so miles on it; less than 4,000 miles on that tire... I usually see 6,000 miles or better on scooter tires; better when I can get the Michelin City Grip IIs that I prefer.  To be fair, the Michelin tires are about twice the price of this Kenda.  No telling how long it would have taken to get one of those Michelins shipped in.

The bad news: we lost a day of riding, and Mother Nature hasn't been particularly good about allowing those.  The good news: I'm up and riding again.  I rode back to the campground (at a faster pace than the uncertain ride to the shop).  As I was putting the bike back in the cargo trailer, it started sprinkling... followed shortly by the rumble of thunder again.  I'm calling that good timing.  The tread on the new tire...

Murphy got some outdoor time with Joan while I was waiting for the scoot.  His eyes widened a bit when he heard the thunder, but he was more quizzical than afraid of the noise.  The rain held off until around 5:00, when the rumbles came calling again.

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By 6:30, the rain was really pounding.  Hard-to-hear-the-TV kinda pounding.  Not a big problem, because the TV reception went out while the rain was pounding.  A "to reset" page came up on the TV - apparently the "basic cable" we have here in the park is from Dish: we used to see that page frequently when we had Dish (at the house, in the boat, in the motorhome, etc).  We dumped Dish, but I digress.  We knew it would take a few minutes after the rain let up before the signal would come back.

Nope, I was wrong: all the power went out.  The motorhome can run almost everything except the air conditioning and microwave on battery power.  The fridge switches itself to propane.  We turned off lights and TVs to conserve battery power.  The power pedestal we are plugged into for shore power is a bit sketchy, so I was getting shoes on to check with a neighbor to see if it was just our power or if the whole campground was out.  Before I finished putting on my shoes, the power came back on... yep, not us.  Or, if there was some kind of surge or power fluctuation, our surge protector would have taken the coach off shore power until things stabilize (that helps protect our TVs and appliances).  Whatever the cause, the power came back on after about 15 minutes.

Some parts of the state are getting wind, hail, and flooding (you may have seen something about Dollywood getting flooded - that is on the other side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from us).  There is a stream that runs through the back side of this campground, but so far (in spite of all the rain) no flash flood warnings here (as there are one over from us).

On the bright side, the rain has let up significantly.

I guess I was fortunate to get back from the motorcycle shop when I did.