My Yellowstone Odyessy

Chapter 4

4 It's Got to Get Better

August 22

After he returned from the toilet, Terry started his stove to make coffee; I also visited the toilet, and started to pack my stuff up while waiting for the coffee to boil. It took us longer to get moving and get packed up then we would have liked but we eventually go there, got some hot coffee down our throats and felt a little better. My bike started quickly, but Terry was having trouble with his, finally starting, just before the battery grew too weak. This didn't look too good but there was nothing we could do now, we rolled out in the dark, as we were traveling down the road I saw something large and black scamper across the highway, "A bear" I thought, I looked as we passed the point where I saw him but saw only darkness.

As we picked up speed the cold seeped into my clothes causing me to shiver, by the time we hit Bondurant, I was cold as hell, I'm sure Terry was as well, but we continued to roll north. Finally we called a stop at Hoback Junction, stopping at a little restaurant for breakfast. I don't think I thawed out until my third cup of coffee, Terry didn't say much but downed two cups of coffee before ordering breakfast.

Back on our bikes, He still had problems getting his started, he was almost to the point of having to be jumpstarted when his motor caught, and we were on our way. The next 13 miles was rough, his motor kept cutting out and missing, almost quitting on him at one point but we limped into Jackson Hole and found Chester's Harley Davidson. We had to wait for an hour for them to open, but one of their tech's helped Terry locate the problem.

It was just as he suspected, a bad coil, while they were fooling around with that I looked around inside at the beautiful brick work and layout of the store. I bought a long sleeve Henley with the shops logo on the back and put it on over my thin Tee-shirt. I found a place to sit and decided to call home, turning my phone on I saw message notifications from mom Pam and Tiph, this didn't look good, I called mom first. "Hey mom what's up?" "Oh Honey are you all right?" "we're just fine mom, we're here at the Harley shop in Jackson Hole, Terry's bike has a bad coil, he's getting it replaced, what's wrong?" An ominous pause began to alarm me, "Ted Miller was killed early Saturday morning around 1am off the interstate, apparently he was drunk took the off ramp too fast, hit the guard rail, flipped off his bike which hit and killed him." "WHAT!" I almost dropped my phone, "Oh my God no!" tears began to well up in my eyes.

"It gets worse, his father was the first on the scene, I surprised you haven't heard about it."

"Terry heard something about a guy being killed on a bike from Evanston when we were still at the Pilot station but not who it was, Oh God mom, poor Ted, this is awful, you know, he came in the store one day looking miserable, and just said "I'm sorry" to me then walked out." "Well the funeral is scheduled for tomorrow; I don't suppose your coming back for that are you?" "No, mom I'm not we weren't seeing each other anymore, and frankly the way he was treating me and even Tiphanie not hardly, but still, I feel sorry for the family, Listen mom, could you have some flowers sent to the funeral home, nothing fancy, but have then add a card with my name on it OK?" "I will dear, you kids stay safe, I love you dear," "I love you too mom, talk to you later."

I called Pam and Tiph and got pretty much the same report, Pam asked, "Are you coming back for the funeral tomorrow?" "No, we're too far away and besides we broke up almost two months ago." Pam paused and cautiously said, "It's probably just as well, word is the family is partially blaming you they say Ted was depressed and that's why he was drunk." "That's bullshit Pam, here the guy is dead, and he's still causing pain in my life." I told her where I was and that I would talk to her later then hung up. Suddenly a wave of emotion overwhelmed me and I put my hands to my face and started to quietly sob.

I realized someone was kneeling in front of me and opened my hands to see Terry with a concerned look on his face, "What's the matter baby?" he said as he took my hands "My ex boyfriend was killed the other day, that's the guy you heard the news story about Ted Miller." "That's the guy that was giving you the hard time," commented Terry, " Why cry for him?"