Well boys and Girls this story will be a bit different! first off, the ole lady decided to go part way with me since my sister ( her best friend) lives just under half way to the Boogie! so I re-arranged all my gear on the bike and made it so she could put her and her stuff on there with me, along with all my normal stuff!  and still ride comfortable! by the time I was done that poor soft tail was loaded down! We left out on Wednesday morning about 10 since I was planning to stop at my sisters, I wanted to get there a bit early so we could visit.  I usually leave about noon to make it to St Lewis area then stop for night so I get there as gates are opening!  anyway I got on I- 44 and headed up through Tulsa an with a short gas stop there! I have made this trip enough times to know where I need to get gas! my next stop was supposed to me at Springfield Mo, but  when I pulled up to the toll booth I felt the bike act funny! I looked it over and my front tire was flat! now if that isn't scary one min I'm doing 80 mph and then I am stopped and my front tire goes flat as I'm pulling into the toll booth!  well I ask toll attendant where the closest station was to get air  she told me one mile so I eased down the shoulder very slow with the extra weight on back it didn't damage the tire! well when I got there I put some air in the tire to see if it had leaked at the valve stem no such luck! I was hoping I could get it to last to closest bike shop! it was flat before I put hose away! I was going to take the wheel off and go into Vinata a couple of miles away to see if I could get the tube patched!

 I was trying to block the bike up so I could remove the wheel but there was nothing to put under it! ok now what! well actually luck was with me! there just happened to be a crew of tower builders for ATT stopped for gas! 
Absolute Towers Services  they had a trailer behind there pickup! I ask one of them if they were headed to Joplin and he said he was, I ask him if he would mind giving me and the ole lady a ride! he wasn't too sure at first his truck was full, I just said ok thanks and explained I would find a another ride for me and the bike! when he realized I had bike trouble the crew were ok with the inconvenience of repacking the truck to accommodate more passengers! I was able to ride the bike up onto the trailer! then they had tie downs to make sure it went no were! 

within 15 min of asking them about a ride we were on the way to Joplin Harley Davidson The Ole lady and I visited with them for the next 50 miles, Trent Milecky, Tony Elmendorf, and Mike Lacy were really nice guys when we got to Joplin the ole lady and I tried to buy then some gas or dinner and they refused! The company they work for should give them a raise for being such good ambassadors of good will!  now the Joplin Harley shop they did tell me in advance It would be $90  labor and $20 for the tube they put in! of course they kind of have me over a barrel! the guy did say there was some rust in there he cleaned out which he said probably caused the flat! a couple of hrs later I was back on the road headed for my sisters place! I still stopped in Springfield to get gas and then on to my sisters! we got there about an hour and a half before supper!