Finally, this past August, my hubby, Rick aka “Barnzie” and I got to head out on our first real motorcycle trip together. The Loess Hills are close by and we enjoy those short trips but were ready to travel somewhere further away. Rick rides a ‘07 HD Street Glide and has ridden for many years. I, having only ridden about 4 years, have graduated from a hand-me-down ’99, 1100 Honda Shadow to a ‘07 HD Deluxe that I purchased this summer. We headed out early on what was predicted to be another, record-breaking, scorcher of a day. Our destination was Knoxville, IA. Why? No real reason just picked a spot on the Iowa map. Any day is a great day to ride. We stopped at various places along the way and even got to a covered bridge in Madison County. We arrived in Knoxville shortly after Noon, planned to check in at the hotel, grab some lunch and something cold to drink. We deserved it. We’d been riding about three hours; not hurrying, but enjoying the different scenery. I was in the lead and really had no clue where our hotel was at. We were riding around in residential Knoxville and we moved to the curb in the shade of some trees. I pulled up MapQuest on my phone and determined we needed to turn around and go a few blocks in the other direction. Not being comfortable with short turns, I wanted to go up and around the block. Rick, ever challenging me said, “Hell no, we’ll turn around in the road.” Reluctantly, I followed, but was ready to get out of this extreme heat. Heading down a residential hill, Rick started to slow up. He pulled to the side of the road. His bike died. Nothing….wouldn’t turn over, no power…dead. Great! Just flippin’ great! Our first day, our first trip and now, this? We can’t believe it. Did I mention it was really hot? We couldn’t buy any breeze. All we wanted to do was get to our hotel. As we were putting our kicks stands down, and doing more than curse under our breath, out of the house came a man. Now that I look back, he was somewhat angelic looking! ‘Gabriel’ asked if we were having problems. We were on a ‘no parking’ road so the ‘angel’ said we could push it into his garage. After introductions, Doc moved his own bike, allowing Rick to park his in the shade of the garage. Did I say it was hot? Doc inspected Rick’s bike. Tested the fuses, checked the battery. All looked good but the bike was dead. Doc called people he knew but they were not able to look at Rick’s bike. By this time we are drenched and on the verge of heat stroke. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but it was miserable. We called Indianola’s HD store and their service trucks were all out on other calls, (of course!) but….if we could get it there, they would work on it. Without any hesitation, Doc announced he’d take Rick and his bike to Indianola! They loaded it up on Doc’s trailer and Doc, his significant other Shelene, and Rick headed out. I not ashamed to admit it, I took off on my bike and headed to the air conditioned hotel about half a mile away! Someone had to get the beer and soda on ice! The trip to Indianola was about 25 miles. The dealership got Rick’s bike in right away. Doc and Shelene stayed with Rick. A broken faring bracket was the culprit; it cut through the starter wire. Forty-five minutes later the bike was fixed and Barnzie was back on the road! Doc followed Rick back to Knoxville and to our hotel. In true biker fashion, Doc would not accept any money from Rick. Instead, he said to ‘pay it forward’. There was a reason why we turned around in the road instead of going around the block. There was a reason why we stopped directly in front of Doc’s house. We were stranded and didn’t know a soul. We met two incredible human beings. They didn’t have to help us. They could have stayed in their home and pretended they didn’t know we were there, melting…. Instead, they chose to come to our rescue and welcomed us into their lives, for a brief time. They did everything they could to help us. We were and continue to be very moved by these acts of kindness and will forever ‘pay it forward’. Thank you Doc. Thank you Shelene. Thank you for your unselfish acts of kindness and reminding us of how powerful one single act can be and what truly matters. Denise Barnes Defiance, Iowa
38 - TRMI DECEMBER 2013
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