Best laid plans...

Dinner at Maria Bonita's was fantastic.

Jump on the bike to run back to the hotel to pack and CLICK. I hear the starter solenoid click, but the motor does not even try to crank over. Lights very bright. Brand new battery. Terminals clean and tight.

I called John and Rae, but they are an hour away, and heading towards Orlando. He suggested I push start it to get to the hotel. That worked on a warm engine, but I am not so confident about it getting me all the way back to Ohio.

I was talking to some of the other riders here at the hotel, and when they heard me talking about difficulties with my Goldwing, they said "You want to talk to Pat". Actually, first they made jokes about rice and chopstick and then said Pat. Pat, it turns out, works on Goldwings.

Out come the tools, and he starts testing things. Battery fully charged. Relevant fuses intact. Output from Relay A fine. Moving the starter and trying to start again gave no joy (in case it was bad brushes on the starter) Relay B is buried fairly deep. Not quite open hear surgery, but it sure felt like it, in the dark, in a hotel parking lot! 3 hours later, (and a lot of good banter between the Harley guys and the Honda guys), Pat identified Relay B as faulty. Wiggling the terminals enabled the bike to start. He made sure I knew which terminals needed jiggled in case it fails on the way home, and we buttoned everything up.

I tried to pay for the next beer or pizza run, but they all refused. Something about helping me out of the goodness of the heart.

Moral of the story, if you are going to have your Honda break down, do it in a hotel parking lot filled with Harley riders who are expert Honda mechanics.

Thanks, Pat and the rest of the crew. Ride safe.