We rolled to the far north side of the valley (Phoenix metro area), 50 miles or so from our starting point. The plan was to have an easy breakfast and ride hard to Flagstaff where we'd fuel, take a quick break and head towards Tuba City and on in to Kayenta (Southern side of Monument Valley). At least, that WAS the plan. We had the easy breakfast - there's nothing quite like hashbrowns smothered and covered to keep your belly from grumbling.
We had all just finished our meal, the ladies headed out to the bikes while the guy's took care of the check and as I'm standing in line to pay one of the ladies in our group comes up and tells me - "your bike has a flat tire...." 
and as she's telling me this she's backing away. First I thought she was kidding but was soon to find that she was serious. Someplace along the highway I had picked up a nail in the sidewall of my front tire... here we are, 10:00 am, still in Phoenix, and it's getting hot.
I thank God every day of my life for good friends. This day especially. Not only are they really good at keeping me calm when I really didn't want to be, they always jump in without hesitation to help whenever it's needed. Today was no exception. I never had time to think about it (other than to utter a few choice words) before my buddies were on thier way to get a can of fix-a-flat so we could get to the nearest dealer or tire outlet for repairs."
Within ten or fifteen minutes the fix-a-flat had arrived! Great right? Now it's just a matter of getting to the local dealer located about 15 minutes across town from where we were. No worries, 15 minutes, hey that's not a big deal. We'll get there, get in, get the tire changed and get back on the road in - oh, I don't know, I'm thinking an hour or so. Sounds reasonable, right?
sigh.... I really shouldn't think!
Around 10:30 am Our group arrives at the dealer, dismount and the guy's head to the service department while the ladies decide to browse main store, bikes, clothes and accessories. The Service tech and I go over what I need, I explain that we're on the road heading to Sturgis, we have 4 days to get there and I would appreciate anything he could do to get us in and out as quickly as possible. I personally think that the green dye in his hair has impacted his hearing and cognitive thought process. 
The only evidence to this phenomenom I call "Green Creep" is his response... "...ummm, we can get you in about 1:00 this afternoon..." I explained our situation again. Not trying to be unreasonable, nearly pleading for him to work us in. I explained that we were travelling across country, how long we had to get to our destination, the fact that we had reservations in South Eastern Utah tonight and we didn't want to ride all night to get there. I then asked if he couldn't do something to bump me up in the order, "it's just a tire change", it's not like I needed an overhaul and was demanding it in the next 15 minutes or anything. The answer remained the same a big, fat, "sorry dude". Still in search of some help I asked for a recommendation where I may be able to get in and out quickly, anyplace, it didn't need to be a dealer..(I did't think this was too unreasonable)... Ole' Green Hair must have skipped out on some of the Customer Service training that the dealership offered and took the class on "sorry dude" instead. I think my face must have given away some warning sign of my growing frustration with the Service Tech's unwillingness to bend a little or even offer any help. As I'm certain that I was about to kindly thank him for his lack of any assistance, my friends were ushering me out to the sounds of thier offering "Thanks anyway"...
We're now at 11:00 am - still in Phoenix. Still with 380 Miles to ride.
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