After dicking around in the parking lot for a while, I realized I was not gonna fix whatever was going on with the bike. It ran fine, don’t get me wrong, it was just that … well, take a look and tell me what’s wrong with this picture.
Hmm?
Anyone?
Bueller?
Anyone??
When I kicked on the brakes to disengage the cruise, the gauges all died. They all swept to the left as if the bike was off. All I had was turn signals, stereo, and hi-beam indicators. No neutral, speedo (glad I had the Zumo for that!), tach, temp, oil pressure, volts, cruise, OD indicator … nothing.
In the parking lot at the gas station, I pulled the fuse for the gauges and that fuse was blown, but even after replacing it, no joy. So, off to a dealer around Columbia, SC, we go.
We wound up at Thunder Tower HD.
I went in and talked with the fellas at the service desk. After initially being told that they don’t service bikes from Ohio (gotta love a service guy from Michigan with a sense of humor!), they immediately wheeled the bike in. Now check this out – this dude just pushed the bike – fully loaded, so we’re talking 1000+ pounds – right up the little ramp into the service bay. I’m still impressed – no way this scrawny geek coulda done that.
The service department here was great. The got the bike RIGHT in, diagnosed it (a wire inside the faring had rubbed raw and grounded against the stereo – no WAY I would have ever got THAT one diagnosed), got ‘er fixed (along with doing a recall) and on our way in 2 ½ hours.
After our little fiasco up in Minnesota back in 2010 when we had to go to Fargo to get the thing fixed, all in all, I’m VERY happy with how we were treated. Thunder Tower HD has a VERY nice facility, a HUGE service bay, competent technicians (who were quite interested in the SPOT tracker), and treated us as you would expect a dealer – ANY dealer – to treat someone on the road with an issue with their bike.
Kudos to those guys. If nothing else, the service writers could take their show on the road. Pretty damn entertaining.
So, after the first use of the extended warranty I’m now very glad I bought, we were on our way, making our way out of Columbia, SC, in rush hour.
Thunder Tower HD. Stop in and say hi. Tell the service guys you’re from Ohio just to mess with ‘em.
Maybe that’s what I needed. A little adversity out on the road to get my head outta my ***, put it back on my shoulders, and get that umpteen-gazillion-pound gaggle of gorillas off my back.
Maybe.
Traffic sucked getting out of Columbia, but we were eventually on our way once more.
Last fall, after FJR EOM in Kentucky, we rode the FJR down to Hilton Head to stay a weekend with a friend. Not gonna beat dead horses about bringing a motorcycle onto a certain plantation in HH, or what a ******* the guard shack dude was, but at least we had some awesome food.
One of the places we went during that trip was our Prime Destination For Food this day.
Hudson’s Seafood House On The Docks.
Let me just say that – Garmin? WTF are you guys DOING?!?!? We kinda knew where it was, so I punched it into the Zumo and … it was trying to take us to another island
?!?
After a minute in a parking lot consulting with our smart<?> phones, we had the right address and were on our way.
Stupid Zumo.
Once we got there, though, we were primed for some awesome food.
The view.
Our view from our table inside. Woulda been nice to sit outside, but after the day we’d had, we were there and that was all that mattered.
Modeling the menu.
Hush puppies and Fat Tire. (Sooze had the Sierra Nevada.) Great googly-moogly those hush puppies… Guys – these are NOT your run-of-the-mill hush puppies. These hush puppies will … uh … “put a stir in a man’s loins,” if you grasp my meaning. And, no, I did NOT put any damn catsup – ketchup? – whatever – on those hush puppies. If you are ever, EVER, within 100 miles and have the time – go, just for the pups. I’m telling ya … they were worth it for us!