COC/DiCE Party Ride From....

June 12th, 2011

With my front tire ticking like a time bomb.... every bump and bridge crossed was another lump in my throat. 60 miles out Pete signaled us off the highway and into an abandoned truck stop. He was having an issue with his carb so the rest of dicked around and played grab ass for a while as he got situated. Before getting back on the highway I pinched the sidewalls of my tire to see if it still had good air pressure. The slight pinch released all the air from the tube. I messed around with it for a while knowing that this tube was a lost cause. Brad was on his fancy smart phone looking for the nearest motorcycle shop. It was sunday and I was looking for a 21" tube... odds were not in my favor. Brad made one call and got an answering machine. It went something like this. "If you are inquiring about a Honda or metric motorcycle please hang up now. Here in america we are in the belief that motors are measured in cubic inches not cubic centimeters.. and the only language we speak is English. If you are inquiring about a Harley Davidson motorcycle please leave a message with your name and number if you are in an emergency situation please call my cell at xxx.xxx.xxxx." We knew that this was exactly the guy we needed. I called his cell phone and after a few rings he picked up.... He said "Shit... I'm at an NRA meeting right now... let me see what I can do and I'll get right back to you". Sure enough he called back and said he had a 21" tube and would ditch out of his meeting to help me out. We split in half... Pete, Ratchet, Steve and Meg stayed to watch my bike. I hopped on the back of Brad's bike with my wheel and Jeri followed.

Meg

Shit patch

When we arrived at Gary Hash's place we found a very energetic well built man. It was very apparent when we walked into his shop that he was a man of many interests. He had a soft spot in his heart for 60's CH's. Gary informed us that his first bike was a CH and that he had sold it many years back but recently rediscovered it and bought it back. After a little chat... he said let me pull out my tire changing station which consisted of a blanket and some tire spoons. He got on his hands and knees and replaced my tube. After a little more chatting we realized we had been gone for over 2 hours.... we knew the guys sitting at the abandoned truck stop were gonna be pissed. We didn't want to be rude and scurry out the door...... he was a very interesting man with so many stories.... but we told him we really needed to get down the road.

Hash's first Harley... recovered and back to it's original owner

Drag Bike

Tire changing station

His first CH and its many versions

Gary's club back in the day

Hash bought this car new as a youngster

Gary's Shop

"Did some one say that they like guns!?!?!".... he asked has we walked out the door. You have to see my gun collection. We agreed to follow him to a different location were he stored his guns.... he said we wouldn't be disappointed. Holly Shit.... that we were not. He is a collector of mostly early guns and other early weapons. After another hour or so we finally made it back to some unhappy friends. Hey... we couldn't find the place.....

We ran into these little guys at a gas station in Western Illinois.