Nurse, I'm Ready for my Medication

Today's "stretch goal" was Amarillo. Instead I'm in Oklahoma City, about $400 poorer than I expected to be, and grateful to be here.

I left Little Rock headed for Fort Smith on the Oklahoma border. It was a pleasant ride, and I have to take back some of the comments I made yesterday about wondering why Arkansas was even a state. There was considerably more civilization on this route, along with some lovely lakes and hills. A brisk wind came sometimes from behind, sometimes from the side.

I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of Arkansas, unless you count this one inside the Flying Saucer pub where I dined last night.

To get your name on one of those plates on the ceiling, you must consume 200 different kinds of beer in the establishment. I regretfully declined.

To take an outdoor picture in the state, I stopped at an overlook along the way to Fort Smith.

Note those scudding clouds up ahead, driven by the wind. They will come into play later.

I gassed up in Fort Smith and crossed into Oklahoma. OK was just as pretty as AR. Immediately Interstate 40 began traversing Indian nations - the Cherokee at first, later many more. It added meaning to the stories I have heard of the Trail of Tears and other forced migrations where tribes were dispossessed. The countryside was open and lovely.

The crosswind continued, the sky grew darker, and it looked like there was rain ahead. I pulled off 40 to put on some rain gear and at that moment a brief thunderstorm rolled through. On I rode, through mist thrown up by trucks on wet pavement. I passed Lake Eufaula, featured in the lyrics of "Choctaw Bingo" by James McMurtry, a wicked and clever songwriter. Worth checking out. I got closer and closer to Oklahoma City. About 20 miles out, it looked like more serious rain threatened. I stopped at a gas station, looked at the dismal weather forecast (100% chance of heavy rain) and booked a motel in Oklahoma City.

The Ninja was riding funny. I thought perhaps I had a kinked chain. But I did my 20 miles at a slow pace behind a truck that was also going slowly. Just as I turned off the freeway, then the service road, then the driveway of the motel, I could fell something going very badly wrong in back. It had to be a flat tire.

It was a flat tire. I was expecting some delays on the way to California, but this had the potential to be a big delay. It was 5:00. Dealers close at 6:00 around here. There was a Kawasaki dealer two blocks away that didn't want my business. "Call House of Kawasaki," they actually said, naming another dealer on the far side of town. I did call them, and they promised to stay late to get the bike turned around today.After a great deal of conversation with the American Motorcyle Association, a tow was dispatched.

Pretty cool, huh? The entire flatbed lies on the ground so that the bike can be pushed onto it, then secured. Then the entire flatbed is lifted and inserted into the truck bed.

The dealer didn't have any performance tires in my size, so I had to get the OEM tire that comes with the bike. It's not a very good performer. But I was grateful that anyone would work on my bike at this late hour, allowing me the possibility of making some miles tomorrow morning. The previous tire had developed a bad bald patch very suddenly, just on one area of the tire. That was the reason for the flat. As they were tidying up, the technician noticed that the front tire, which had plenty of tread left, was undergoing some kind of tread separation - severe cupping and blistering. It was about ready to fail, too. And a front tire failure would have been a bad accident. So I got an OEM front tire. I can't say enough good things about these guys who stayed late to help a fellow road-tripper get back on the road.

New tires are unusually slippery because of the "release compound" that manufacturers use to pop tires from their molds. It wears away in about 50 miles (opinions differ on the mileage.) But I had to leave the dealership directly into heavy rain. I got on the freeway at a cautious speed, in the slow lane, but I was repeatedly tailgated. Very disturbing. On the drive back to the motel I passed two horrendous chain-reaction accidents. And people were still zooming through the rain. Oklahomans aren't too bright in that respect.

The sobering nature of the tire failures, the scenarios of how badly it might have gone, and the dramatic accidents on the ride back took their psychological toll on me. Heavy rain is forecast to continue all night. The wind is howling slightly through the motel room door that doesn't quite seal. I'm popping a benadryl and heading for sleepytime. I will get on the road relatively early tomorrow, fighting a strong post-front headwind, and rack up some miles westward to get back on track.