We’re Lucy (aka Sharon Rhodes - pictured on right, the over reactive drama queen) and Ethel (aka Tama Holeczy - on left, the calm and spiritual one). We are best friends, sisters (in heart and spirit), riding buddies and partners in grime. We both live in areas not far from Philadelphia, PA. Seems that whenever we have long runs, something comical happens where we both have to contact our husbands for advice. This article is to share one of our recent episodes. 

We have participated in the past three “Ride with us This Summer” programs. This program is run by the Eastern HD Dealer Association to promote riding. The goal is to visit as many of the dealers on the ‘passport’ as possible and getting the passport stamped with that dealer’s unique stamp. There are various levels of prizes and drawings available depending on how many stamps you get. If all stamps are obtained, you are entered twice in the drawing for a new HD motorcycle.   

Our goal for 2008 was to complete all 40 dealership stamps, no matter what. One small problem, we only had Saturday’s to do it. God really blessed us with our guys because they both recognize what our friendship and riding mean to us. (We ride way more than they do.) It’s only during the week we have time to chat and catch up by phone.  So both our husbands gave us Saturday’s to ride and hangout…not that they in anyway wanted us out of their hair (what little they have). Thank you Jerry (Ricky) and Alex (Fred). Actually, this ride was the first time we were loose on our own on our Harley’s for an overnight trip to get four of the last ten dealer stamps we needed to complete our 2008 passport. 

Saturday night we confirmed our plan, loaded our GPS’s with mapping, tested so they both synchronized with routing, total ride time, including pit stops, and lunch. With all that in mind, we were good to go. Yahoo!!! 

Sunday

Departure time was set for 8:30 a.m. so we could actually stop at two dealers before they closed. We agreed to arrive at our meeting place a few minutes early to get us on the road on time. Well, Lucy started the day out by getting lost due to an unexpected road closure. Lucy has no sense of direction so the story is ‘the detour signs sent her in the wrong direction’ (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it) – and she even has a GPS!  Ethel had to go and get Lucy, which put us an hour late leaving.

The weather was great, the back roads fun, and no traffic to speak of. After over 270 miles and 9 hours on the road (we take lots of gabby breaks) we had hit both dealerships before they closed and got safely to our abode for the night in Wellsboro, PA.  

Dinner was great at a cute Italian restaurant within walking distance of our motel. 

Monday 

Departure for the home stretch was set at 8:15 a.m. to get us back to our loving husbands around 5 p.m.   

We were up early, eager to pack up and go to the best diner in town for a good home- made breakfast. Afterwards, we returned to the motel, checked tire pressure and, due to the drastic difference in temperature, we filled tires with Ethel’s portable pump. We packed up our bikes, got our leathers on, turned on GPS’s and proceeded to start up our bikes. Lucy’s exact words were, “Ready?  Let’s go.” Then a faint voice from Ethel said, “Nothing… wait a minute.” It didn’t register with Lucy what she was saying. Again, she went through all the start up steps and still nothing but clicking from her Heritage Classic “Stang.” Uh oh… this may be a dead battery. Lucy’s thought was, “We’re going to be stuck in Wellsboro and we’ll have to wait for a tow. We’ll never make it to the last two dealers, nor home at a reasonable time. Ethel will have to ride 300 some miles on back of my Softail Deluxe, Skull.” Gotta love ya, Ethel. 

Now Ethel’s thought was, “We’re not going to look like helpless women who have know idea of what to do in this biker friendly town. We’ll jump this baby!” So from Ethel’s saddlebags emerged her tool kit, and Lucy pulled out her jumper cables. We removed the seats from each bike. After a quick call to Alex to verify the correct sequence of events for jumping the bike, we set it up, started up “Skull”, gave it a few minutes to charge, and “Stang” fired right up. The plan for the rest of the day was – not to turn it off again! 

Second day in a row, we departed an hour late. Two more dealers, 300 plus miles, and 11 hours later we arrived home…safe, sound, and with lots of adventure and laughs along the way. 

The moral of this story is:

Prepare for the unexpected, or else your goose will be cooked!