From adversity comes friendship.

By the morning the rim hadn't fixed itself so I put some epoxy in the split to give it a bit of support but mainly it see if it was moving and getting bigger. I remembered that on joining the BMWMOA LINK they had sent me a book called 'Anonoymous BMW Helpers' which gave a list of people who could offer help to other riders. Portland was the biggest city to where we were, but I didn't want to go to a city if it could be helped ,so I looked for helpers on the way to Portland. A small town of McMinnville was on the way to Portland and there were 2 helpers there, one who had an interest in classic and vintage BMW so I thought that was the place to start. Trying to find a call box in this area is very difficult. We went to 2 villages only to be told that call boxes had been taken out as they didn't earn enough for the landowner, but while Jill was getting stamps at the post office (Good things seem to happen while Jill is posting letters Calgary and now here) I started talking to a man who used to ride bikes in his youth who offered me his wife's mobile. I left a message for one of the 'helpers', and just before the couple drove off Frank had called back. Explaining the problem Frank said he would make some phone calls and that we should make our way to his shop in down town McMinnville. On arrival a the shop
Frank took off the rest of the day to sort us out. He took us up to Steve Prokop BMW shop in Dundee and we contacted wheel builders in the USA, one in Southern California 1000 miles away and Woody's in Denver 1400 miles distant. Woody's proved to be the best option and the wheel was despatched by UPS air next day at a cost of $131 to be rebuilt with a new Excel rim and heavier spokes. There had been oil seepage from the clutch area and I asked Steve to sort that out before it became a problem. He found that the main oil seal engine side was leaking and that the final drive seals were also seeping oil so the bike was in bits
and Steve can be seen doing what needed to be done to get us where ever we wanted to go. Jill spotted a nice memo for life at Frank's shop and couldn't resist taking a photo just to remind us what it is all about.
Frank took us back to his house where we met Carol, and decided to hire a car for the week while the wheel and other things were being sorted. A car wasn't available until next day so Frank lent us his truck and at about 1900 we left them and headed towards a camp site. 100 yards down the road we decided we were too fatigued to camp so booked into a Motel, which unusually was very good, just round the corner. We partook of the local Mexican which was very good also, but rather on the gigantic side being enough to feed a not so small family, and fell into a gentle slumber thanking our lucky stars in the shape of Frank and Carol for their kindness.