So, as I was saying before, the Universe kind of does it's own thing and decides to shake things up a bit. Monday, we did our laundry and oil change and then left expecting to make it to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I will say the drive was going amazingly well and smooth, perfect temps, perfect scenery ... then BAM, just outside of Yampa, Colorado our back tire is flat. Ugh!!!!
But I gotta tell you, that was the perfect place for it to happen. Had it happened just an hour or so before, we'd have been in the thick of the mountains and could have sat there for hours! But, lucky for us, a guy named Saw was 10 minutes away from us. So out came Saw to load the bike onto his flatbed. Super awesome guy, friendly and funny as hell. And he knows everyone!
So Saw recommends we get the bike into Steamboat Power Sports in Steamboat Springs. So I start calling hotels there just to find everything booked! Wtf?? On a Monday night? Ugh!! I popped on to Booking.com and was able to find one room at the Bristol Hotel in downtown Steamboat Springs. Thank God!! It was a bit pricey but what other options did we have?
So our now good friend Saw drove us and the bike all the way to Steamboat telling us his stories along the way. By the time he unloaded us at the hotel, we were all good buddies and parted ways with hugs.
We checked into the hotel, cute as can be, grabbed showers and ventured out to find dinner since the bike shop wouldn't be open until Tuesday.
We found a place called Johnny Be Good for a sandwich and I was right at home. My favorite icons were all over the place!!
We treated ourselves to chocolate shakes and headed back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
Tuesday morning came and Yozef started making phone calls. Got ahold of the powersports people and they came and picked up the bike. A little while later they let us know that it's not the tire it's a busted rim! Holy hell!
So as Yozef's calling around to find a rim, I had to find us another room for another day. Again, all the hotels are booked! What?? On Tuesday?? What is with this town??
Luckily, the Vristl had 1 room available that we could move into ... the suite just as luck would have it. Costs a small fortune, but hey, if we're gonna be stuck here might as well live it up, right?
So we moved into the suite and went back and forth with phone calls until Yozef was able to find a used rim at a bike shop all the way back in Minturn (ironically we had lunch there on Monday). But ... we had to figure out how to get the wheel to him. I checked car rentals, none available. Our last option was a Uhaul pickup, but, that's quite a ways from the hotel.
As luck would have it, that's when Saw sends a message. Oh my Saw, our buddy. After messages back and forth, he told Yozef to use his pick-up truck to get it all done. Wow!!! Who does that?! It actually brought me to tears that this guy would go above and beyond for people he just met!
So last night, Yozef was able to drive the wheel to the bike shop where today they'll be lacing the new rim. Yozef will be driving back to pick it up and drive it back to Steamboat so that the powersports guy can put it back on the bike.
Unfortunately the suite we're in isn't available for tonight, though, so we'll be moving rooms (again) for hopefully our last night in Steamboat. If everything goes the way we hope, we will be back on the road tomorrow and making our way home to Wisconsin!