Yes, we have witnessed two examples of life-threatening maneuvers by car drivers, but I’m referring now to another disaster in waiting.

On Sunday, during our trip to the start of the trip, we stopped for gas and coffee at Pine City. After refueling body and machine, I prepared to mount and start the bike but could not find the key. I knew I had put it in my pants pocket as is my habit, but it was not there!

I searched all of my pockets in all of my clothing. On a day that had started with unexpected problems (see prior posts), here was one more. I wondered what I would do if the key were truly lost—a dead bike with locked steering at a gas station halfway to Duluth.

Poldi instructed me to retrace my steps, and sure enough, on the floor in front of the cashier, the key was located. It had been pulled from my pocket when I extracted my travel wallet, a specially prepared packet of passport and credit cards, to pay for the coffee.

I resolved to keep the key in a zippered pocket of my motorcycle jacket instead. This worked well except for those times when I was not wearing the jacket. The key resumed its risky life cohabiting with the wallet in my pocket, but this system was a big improvement.

Today however, after enjoying the view of Aguasabon Falls on the way to Terrace Bay, I stuck my hand in the jacket pocket and found NO KEY! I knew that I had placed it there, just before putting my GoPro camera and its mount into the same pocket.

I went white, the blood draining away as I imagined being stranded in this remote area. I could foresee searching for an hour or more as daylight waned, and then walking back to the highway, hoping to get a ride to the next town, and then… what? This was NOT the unplanned adventure we wanted.

As before, we retraced our steps, this time back to the waterfall overlook where we had taken pictures of each other and exchanged shots with another couple. And there, on the slatted boards of the deck, lay my key. An inch over and it would have tumbled hundreds of feet to the river below.

I was relieved of course, but still wondered how to avoid this disaster. Clearly a second key in a safe place is the answer. Although I did a lot of research into the risks of motorcycle touring prior to this trip, this is one risk that I was oblivious to.

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