August 8 and 9 - Whole Again Thanks to the Kindness of Others
The last two days certainly did not occur the way I anticipated, but I was inspired by the chain of events nonetheless. Yesterday morning in St. Louis as I was leaving my hotel to join my nephew and his fiancé for breakfast, I was unable to start my bike. I tried charging my bike battery and also changing the battery in my fob but neither helped. Eventually I started the bike by putting in my pin and went to breakfast. However, after breakfast the pin did not work the first several times I tried.
When I finally started the bike again, I was conflicted about what to do. The Harley shop in St. Louis was closed on Sunday and there were no Harley shops I could find in the state that were open. I knew I was planning on heading south to Lambert’s Café in Sikeston for lunch and decided to use the two hours on the road there to come up with an action plan. While driving south I prayed for wisdom about what to do as I didn’t feel safe driving without a reliable way to start the bike but also knew I couldn’t fix the bike that day.
I decided to gas up at a Miner Mobil station right next to Lambert’s, figuring that if I couldn’t start the bike again at least I could walk over to the café for lunch and decide out what to do while I was eating. After I filled up my bike a young man came up to me and said, “Aren’t you that lady that’s traveling across the country doing book signings?” It turns out that he recognized me and my bike from Bunk a Biker!
After saying hello, I explained that I was having a tough day because my bike wouldn’t start. The young man – Matt “Cheezy” Parks, smiled at me, explained that he was part of a company called MRRC (Motorcycle Rescue Recovery Company), and pointed to his trailer outfitted with a wheel chuck that was literally parked right in front of me in the gas station!!! I am convinced that Matt was an answer to my prayers on the way down. Wow!
After my bike failed to start, I got permission from the gas station to pull my bike over and leave it for an hour and Matt and I went to lunch at Lambert’s. The meals at Lamberts are so fun because servers come by with different kinds of unlimited sides as well as rolls that they throw at you. Matt and I came up with a plan over lunch while drinking out of gallon-sized containers of unsweetened iced tea.
Matt ended up driving me over 300 miles to Rogers Arkansas so that I could have the bike looked at by the Pig Trail Harley shop this morning. They had serviced my bike on Friday, and I knew they were open on Monday.
Pat in the service department is the one that figured out that the antenna to my security system was defective. Larry located the part for me in Tulsa, and I drove to Tulsa where Aaron agreed to have his mechanics put the part in right away. I was back on the road with a fully functioning bike by 3pm.
The whole experience was incredibly encouraging to me as I feel that God really provided all the help I needed in an extraordinary way. What are the odds that a motorcycle rescue vehicle would park right in front of me in a gas station and that the driver would recognize me and introduce himself?
