The Carolinas’ Full Throttle Magazine
58
Road Trip With The Firm That Rides By: McGrath Law Firm Attorney Tyler Stiles ike many great
road trips, this one began with a plan: 12 people would travel 5800 miles to Washington state over 15 days, through 12 states. We’d ride through the black hills, northern Idaho, Bear Tooth Pass, and some of the greatest roads the Mid and Northwest have to offer. Also like many great road trips, the plan fell to pieces the closer we got to kick stands up: 12 people became 10, became 8, and so on and so forth until we were 4. A historic heatwave and wildfires in the pacific northwest forced us to decide: would we go northeast, into New England and Canada? Or would we go west through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and eventually New Mexico and Arizona? A quick vote was tallied among the remaining riders, and we decided given the uncertainty at the Canadian border, and the desire to see the Grand Canyon, we would head west. The trip was shortened to 4,900 miles and 11 days, and our traveling party was trimmed down to just me, Matt Danielson, Daisha Schwear and her husband Nick. My vehicle of choice for this trip was a 2007 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic. To say this bike has seen better days would be an understatement. It was purchased new by one of my bosses (the previously mentioned Matt Danielson) and has been handed down through firm employees ever since. By the time it arrived in my garage, it had an odometer reading 88,000 miles or so, and some receipts in the tour pak that indicated the speedometer had been swapped at some point and several thousand miles were lost to history. It had a weird frontend wobble, made some strange noises and didn’t particularly love to idle while hot (makes Toy Runs a real treat). At the time of the trip, the bike had *roughly* 105,000
miles. The transmission had no fluid in it when I got the bike. I wisely topped that off and perhaps not so wisely never opened the case to determine if there was a reason all the fluid was gone. Out of sight, out of mind I say. I slapped a new set of tires on it, changed the fluids in the primary, transmission and crank case and figured it was good for another 100k. Matt had been telling me for months I should probably think about a replacing it prior to this trip, but my pride combined with my wallet (sealed tighter than 2 coats of paint) convinced me that I had nothing to worry about. I packed a bunch of t-shirts, boxers, an extra pair of pants and more tools than I’d care to admit into the bike and decided I was ready. My wife informed me that I would need approximately 5 lbs. of snacks, “In case something happens.” I did not realize I was taking a trip through both time and space, back to the pioneer days when there wouldn’t be a fuel station every 30 miles and I didn’t have a cell phone but decided against making this point. I dutifully crammed cookies, nuts, and jerky into all the vacant corners of the top box. Starting out from Creedmoor, NC I made it about 15 minutes out of the driveway before the rain gear came out. Not a great start, but as long as I don’t have to start a day in the rain, “I’ll survive” I thought. I had not planned to wear my rain gear all the way to Asheville, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I had the whole first day to myself before meeting up with the others, so I was in no rush. And since I’m passing through Asheville, obviously I have to stop at Rocky’s for some hot chicken. With my rain gear finally off and a spicy gut bomb resting comfortably in my stomach, I finished the trip into Crossville, TN and met with Matt, Daisha and Nick. I was immediately aware that