One good deed spawns another..

 
Belly up to bar, grab a drink this one's on me as I spin my yarn...
Last Sunday the planets were lined up and I was able to get the wife on the
back of my departed brothers Fatboy. I had planned about a 250 mile loop
ride to see if she could handle the bike; (she has "old bones") The ride
started OK, made it to a small town and grabbed a lunch, it was a late
start. While I hadn't filled up I had looked at the left tank, it was full
on the start of the ride (you know where this is going....) Leaving this
small town, I had about another 35 miles to the next town of any size. About
1/2 way between these two points the bike sputters. Sh*t, switch to reserve
and press on. I'm hoping for one of them mom and pop shops with a antique
pump outside but no luck.
I'm still learning the quirks of this bike, and I learned that my Kawasaki
can go a lot farther on reserve then the fatboy. About 7 miles from the town
she sputters out. I coast to a driveway and park it, the wife being
surprisingly calm. Perhaps she was thinking this is how all bike rides go.
No cell phone coverage.
The house is a set of 3 rentals in a small canyon. All are very run down,
the lawns overgrown, almost scary. A younger woman steps out to silence the
dogs and actually apologizes to us for the noise. she heads back inside.
looking at the options I say to the wife, lets see what she can do for us.
we knock on the door and was greeted by the lady- perhaps late 20's with 3
kids. She is most receptive to out problem. She tells me she is out of gas
in her gas cans. I offer her gas for her van if she would run us into town
to get some and she said OK.
We climb into her early 80's Ford van, it barely started and needs carb or
ignition work as it had a bad stumble on acceleration. She keeps apologizing
to us for EVERYTHING, the smell min the van (Garbage in the rear to go to
the dump) we keep telling her were thankful to her. we get the gas but she
didn't need any for the van, and we weren't carrying much on us to offer
her. but she took us to her house and we gassed up the bike.
The entire time this girl was talking. Obviously, living in this remote
place with 3 kids she was starving for some conversation.  He husband had
just rejoined the army and was in Oklahoma setting up there new place. The
lawn mower had broke and she had started cutting the grass with scissors;
she had a 6' square done but it was a large lawn, and about 12-18" tall.
I thanked her and fixed her son's bike, and had to depart; wishing I had
extra cash to offer her. The wife and I turned around and headed home.

This bothered me all week, so about midweek I told the wife I was loading up
the riding lawn mower and going back down to clean up her lawn. the wife
agreed.
I loaded up the mower and weedeater and headed down there. We (the wife-
step-son and I) drove by the place (about 60 miles from home) and the lawn
was cut, the van gone. we headed to the beach for lunch and to sightsee a
bit- lunch was great- the wind was cold. and drove back to her house; this
time she was home.
She recognized me then got this look of confusion as she figured out we had
driven all the way down there to mow her lawn. She was amazed. She was
trying to get everything cleaned up for her husband was arriving home that
evening. she had welcome home balloons and signs up. While her lawn had been
mowed, it still needed major trimming and the grass picked up. I set the
wife free on the riding mower with the grass catcher and I hit the trimming
and ditch clearing with the weedeater. the fences were partially laying in
the grass but I managed to get 90% of the grass free from it. the wife and I
emptied at least 7-8 loads of clippings into a pile. When we finally said
our goodbye's the house looked cared for (still a lot of work to be done),
the lady was so appreciative still.
She will only be in the house for a few more days, but it looked good for
her husband, and will look good for the landlords as they try to re-rent it.
I feel like my dept has been repaid.

Overall, a good experience. the wife is still receptive to rides on the Hog,
but we must do some alterations to get it a bit more comfortable.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Steve

 
That's a fine yarn well spun. :) Great read and story, thanks for posting.
Have a cold one on me.



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