I hit the road on a pleasant Thursday evening (September 11th ) after finishing celebrating my birthday with my family as soon as the boys were back from school.
The trip was very enjoyable and I was making great progress and was about 80 miles southeast of Salmon Idaho on Highway 28.
I was doing about 85 on an open stretch of straightaway with slight rolling hills (lava flows) really enjoying the ride, planning to spend the night camping in Salmon.
All of a sudden there were a couple of sickening thumps from my rear wheel (of my motorcycle) the all too familiar feel of a tire going flat, but never before experience on a motorcycle. I felt maybe 2-3 of these thumps, did not feel it hit anything before that, and then the back was trying to go down on my left side. I leaned heavily on my right, and started applying the front brake to slow down from 85, and of course, the back end tried passing the front end on my right side, so I was using all my strength to keep the bike straight on the road as much as possible and keep it from going down on the left side as chunks of rubber flew off the back.
Once I made it down to about 25 mp I headed for the gravel shoulder hoping to save the wheel rim and it was getting harder to keep the bike up and since I had gear on to protect me from road rash or gravel rash, if I was going to go down I wanted to do it on softer earth instead of the hard road, plus I didn't want to get run over by any traffic if any showed up suddenly from the rise just ahead.
I skidded to a VERY wobbly stop at long last.
Put both feet on the ground.
And stood there shaking, and swearing up a storm.
Hopped off the bike and...

sure enough the tire was shot.
The left side of this Dunlop tire sidewall had completelly separated at the seam from the rest of the tire!
I reached for my cellphone, and NO SIGNAL.
I waited a few minutes and saw no vehicles.
So, i battended down my gear. Taking off the heavy one piece outer suit and helmet and gloves. Then started hiking to the rise in the direction I was heading, hoping that I could get signal.
A few vehicle drove by and a few trucks, none of which stopped for my outstretched thumb.
Finally about about 20 mintues a fellow in a pickup stopped. He gave me the bad news that there was no cell service until just outside of Salmon. He kindly offered a ride to the nearest town befor ehe was going off the highway, at Leadore.
There at a bar I asked around for anyone willing to haul my bike with a pickup up to Salmon.
It took a while, but we tracked down the local towing owner and he arranged for a kid with a pickup and his buddy to help me load the bike. Then we took, it up to Salmon.
We arrived there around 10 pm. The flat happended around 8 pm.
We left the bike in back of one of two shops we hoped would have a tire.
Cha-ching, $120 gone for the tow.
Cha-ching, $50 gone for the dump of a motel, since the other less expensive and nicer motels were booked up from fire brigades staying in town.
The following morning, I was there at the shop and as soon as the owners came up explained the situation.
They checked. They only had an 18" tire. I needed a 17".
They called the other shop in town, and they only had a 16".
Both shops did about 99% dirt bike business not street bikes.
So, now the nearest town that had a shop (after much more calling around and waiting) with the right tire was Al's in Hamilton.
So we tried to find a person with a pickup or a rental pickup to take the bike up to Hamilton about 120 miles north.
No one had anything except the car dealership, and they stuck it to me.
Cha-CHING! $150 just to drive the truck one way 120 miles for a few hours. argh!
So, finally arrived in  Hamilton around 1:30 pm.
They commented they had never seen a tire blow the way this one had.
We inspected it thoroughly and couldn't find anywhere that had been penetrated.
Here's the real kicker. I just bought both tires back in Oklahoma City last year, when the bike was around 11,500 miles, I was now around 13,800 miles. So these were practically new tires, and I was already eating one.
Worse, this shop stuck me (with a "generous" 20% off) a $190 bill to put a new tire on.
So, this flat ended up being a $500 flat tire!
And it wasn't over.
I was over the summit from the Montant Idaho border and stopped in Wallace Idaho to chat with some motorcyclists, one from Idaho, the other all the way from New Jersey.
I shared my blowout story with the Jerseyite and then he grimaced as he looked at it and said:
"I hate to burst your buble, but they put your tire on backwards."
I looked and sure enough the directional arrow was the wrong way for rotation. ARGH!
I finally made it to Spokane.
By the time I had a chance to go to a shop Saturday evening, I missed the shop being open by 10 minutes.
I ran into one of the workers in back. He wouldn't authorize any work after hours since his guys had left (I thkink he was either an owner or manager). He said the directional only affected the tire's ability to resist  hydroplaning. I'm worried it also affects traction.
Also, I know radial tires don't like to have their direction changed once they're worn in a particular direction.
So, I'mhere in Spokane, Monday, at a Cafe with wireless internet (the Spike on Monroe St.) and hopefully tomorrow morning (Tuesday) whent he shop's open (They're all closed on Monday here) hopefully they'll have time to hurry and change the tire in the morning.
There's a major storm coming that is supposed to snow in the passes.
I have to ride back to Malad by Wednesday night to catcha  Thursday morning flight to Arizona.
If they don't have the time for me I'll have to risk it. But I'm not a happy camper to be sure.
Who knows what the hazards are to that tire being backwards?
Please let me know.
Thanks,