Brilliant trip, great story, thanks for sharing."How my jacket caught on fire" by Jason B. AKA Chupacabra
After I arrived in my hometown from Austin at around 1:30pm, I wanted to stop by the church I went to and visit. The pastor asked if I needed anything and I said a shower would save the day. Remember, Texas at the end of June is 99-102 degrees daily. We chatted for another hour or so and caught up with one another before I was heading to my friend Brian's job. He works about 25 minutes from the church and I was meeting him at 5.
It was super duper duper duper hot and since we were heading to the Astros game that night, I didn't want to be wearing hot and sweaty clothes and smell gross, so I secured my jacket (or so I thought) on my Ogio tailbag and headed out from the church.
The time was about 3:45 when I left and I decided to ride through old neighborhoods on the way to Schlumberger (Brian's job) to burn time. Needless to say, time wasn't the only thing I was burning on the way.
I pulled up to the intersection of Grand Parkway and Highway 90 in Sugar Land to see a Texas DPS Officer on the left. The light turned red and I naturally stopped and glanced over at the officer next to me. His cowboy hat and my helmet made eye contact and then the cowboy hat quickly pivots to focus on the back of my FZ6. So, I then whip my helmet back and see heavy black smoke billowing from my bike. I turn around and kill the bike and his window is now rolled down-
He shouts "I THINK IT'S ON FIRE!!!"
I shout "ME TOO!?!"
I put the kickstand down and get off the bike and run to the back and see that my jacket slid onto the exhaust and hit the metal muffler so I grab the sleeves and lift the coat up so the neckhole is facing me...ORANGE FLAME greets me, so I throw the coat on the ground and start stomping it out. Officer Robinson starts stomping with me and the jacket is laying on highway 90, smoldering but not on fire any longer-
He looks to me and says "Are you alright?"
I respond "I'm fine"....
Officer "Man, I'm glad, I thought you were going to blow up, then we'd have a real mess"
I laugh and thanked him for his help
Officer "Wow, that jacket looks expensive"
Me "It was"
He offered to recollect our thoughts at the nearby McDonald's so I tossed the crumpled and warm leather in the back of his squad car and we went to the parking lot and talked for a few minutes and I told him about my trip. He looked at me like I was crazy for riding the FZ6 from MN especially at the end of June, and let me know if I needed anything to give him a call. When I explained I was from the area and back to visit, he chuckled and said "What a welcoming ceremony you just had?!"
Officer Eric G. Robinson, you represent what being an gentleman truly is. He departed and I rode home with a (somewhat) wearable jacket.
Oh I forgot on the first post, the trip total was 3032 for mileage
I was able to ride with a Corbin and my trusty AirHawk 2.
Nelly
