Fiirst flat tire.

[dentheman]

I guess I learned three lessons yesterday. First, what a flat rear tire feels like on a motorcycle (Honda Shadow); second, what an uncomfortable inconvenience it can be; and third, how expensive the experience can be.
When I turned off of a country road onto the highway and reached 65 mph, I began noticing the handlebar very slightly wobbling from back and forth. At first I thought it was feedback from going to a new road surface, but I had never felt that before on that stretch of highway. As I continued, the wobble became more pronounced and the engine began lugging in 5th. When I pulled over the rear tire was completely flat and I could smell rubber.
So I called my insurance company for roadside assistance. After going through the inevitable 'push 1 for this, push 2 for this, etc' (with blank spaces because I am not near a cell tower), I finally get a live person. "Where are you located?" she asks. "I am on US 84 about 1 mile north of Southland" (a wide spot in the road that doesn't even have gas). After several seconds, "I can't find a listing for Southland, what is the nearest exit?" "There is no exit anywhere near." "Sir, I can't send anyone out until I can confirm your location." After some back-and-forth I say, "I am about 10 miles south of Slaton", she does find Slaton and says she will call me back. To make that part of the long story short, she calls back in 20 minutes and tells me she can't find anyone equiped to handle a motorcycle, but she found someone not in their listing that can do it (?) I said great, send them (it has now been an hour that I have been standing in the hot sun with no shade). Several minutes later a DPS officer pulls up behind me and offers to let me sit in the air conditioned car until the flat bed arrives, thank God for that (she is talkative, and a good looker!). A little later, my daughter shows up, and after quite a while the flatbed shows up. Two hours have gone by since I pulled over.
When we finally get to the shop, my part of the towing charge is $141. The cost to replace the tire, tube, and labor will be $219.72. But it will be 2 or 3 days to get the tire.
This will not deter my desire to ride the back roads, but it was quite a learning experience overall.