Zombie Apocalypse Averted by Prepared Biker

Yeah, I'm awesome. Please line up to the right for high fives.

OK, so here in the real world, I think the Zombie Apocalypse is pretty unlikely. I mean, it's good to be prepared, but I kind of expect the walking dead to just congregate around shopping malls and Ikea and leave me the hell alone.

All the same, preparing for the worst case scenario is a good exercise in order to be ready for mundane annoyances. Irritation, after all, is far more likely than cataclysm.

Not that I'll admit to that in public, you understand. This is between us, OK?

Lady Luck and I went up to Flagstaff, AZ for the weekend. We stayed at the Little America Hotel. Generally speaking, we've had good experiences at that hotel. This weekend, however, was an exception.

Zombies, you know?

Well, OK, the dead have not (yet) risen and taken over scenic Flagstaff. However, the power in the hotel went out for a solid 10 hours. This was, of course, in the evening. After a day of causing trouble, we got back to a very dark, and very spooky Little America Hotel. It seems silly now, but being in a dark, silent hotel is quite unnerving. I blame Stephen King.

Anyway, because I am one prepared fellow, I had a flashlight with me. The front desk loaned us oil lamps, but the wicks were too short to give off any significant light. The wicks were also too short to grab bare-fingered. Being a good Moto-Scout, I had on my belt a Leatherman PST, which just so happens to have needle-nose pliers built in. I had the wicks adjusted in seconds, and we had enough light to avoid stubbing our toes on random furniture lurking in the dark.

...Too bad I didn't have a source of fire. This was quickly remedied (before getting back to the room, actually), as the gas station across the street still had plenty of electricity. I've now added a Bic lighter to my list of Every Day Carry items. I plan to wrap a few feet of duct tape around it as well. You never know when you might need to stick something to another thing and then light them both on fire.

So, I guess this really wasn't a gripping tale of survival against overwhelming odds equipped with nothing but a paperclip and a Swiss Army Knife, but having a few basic items with me saved us from a miserable evening in a dark, silent, hotel room. Prepare for the worst, so you can easily deal with the annoying.

This, of course, applies to motorcycles and most any other situation. The best time to have a tire repair kit is before you need it. Same with band-aids, water and chewing gum.