Almost Over Before It Began

Looks Bad
Sat. Jan. 24

This morning the trip almost ended before it began! Leaving Puerto Varas in the rain, yes I found out that it does rain here; I headed to Quellon, on the southern end of the island of Chiloe. Just south of Puerto Montt, I came upon a blue truck that had hit the guard rail and landed in the ditch, hard! I thought that might make an interesting picture, so I turned around and went back to the spot, parked the bike, and took a few pictures. As I got back on the bike to leave, I inserted the key, turned it to “start” and pushed the start button and heard the sound we all dread. “Click, Click, Click” No engine sounds! There I was, all alone on the side of the road with a bike that refused to start. So…I called the BMW dealer in Santiago and explained my predicament to Jose the service manager, and he could only suggest jump starting the battery. Well, my jumper cables are almost 6000 miles away, so what do I do now? Well, from my experience here in Chile, the people here always seem to be more than willing to help in any way they can, if you are stranded on the roadside. So I flagged a guy down as he turned into the side road that I was on, and explained my situation, right away he told me that he would go up to the house and try to find jumper cables. A few minutes went by and another person stopped and asked if he could help, so I told him my sad story. He jumped out of his truck, went to the back, opened the doors, and produced a pair of jumper cables. Fantastic!! After producing a few unexpected sparks, (that was my fault) we had the bike running again in seconds. The gentleman, Alberto Peters as I later learned, told me that he knew of a place in Puerto Montt where they could test the electrical system on the bike to see where the problem might be, so after suggesting I follow him there, we where off to Puerto Montt. As we arrived at the location, I hadn’t even managed to get off the bike yet, and Alberto already had a technician headed to my bike with a load tester for the system. The technician had me rev the engine, that I left running just in case, as he checked the operation of the alternator. All was well with the alternator, so he then checked the battery itself. No problemo there either! Hmmmmm? Looks like those high powered PIAA lights that I added to the bike, and have been running constantly, are a little more that the electrical system can manage. I was glad to hear that! So I turned the lights off and will hook them up to the high beam switch when I have a chance. Problem solved. Now, I turned to Alberto and offered to pay him for making him have to go out of his way. Right away he refused any payment and said that next time I’m out this way, I can buy him a beer. Here’s where it get’s good! Turns out Alberto Peters is owner of a beer Micro-Brewery http://www.ccpm.cl/ I had to laugh! We shook hands and went on our way.