By Yash Parulekar
Some of my FB friends know I go to an annual event by the MSTA – Motorcycle Sport Touring Association in Marietta, Ohio for a week in August and it involves the best motorcycling around. This time around, it took an unusual turn and just left me so humbled and thankful for the friends I have in the club and I want to give a long shout-out to the whole incident.
This year around, I had convinced 6 of my friends from northwest Indiana to come down for the event and they had planned accordingly and made it to Marrietta, OH on Tuesday evening (Jim Reinhold on his Triumph Tiger XCA , Nick on his KTM 1190, Rusty Studenroth on his Suzuki Burgman 650, Mark on his Kawasaki Versys 650, and Jon and Donnie on their BMW RT1200s )and I had facilitated introductions to Norm Kern and the other early arrivers so as to get the group acquainted as I was driving down to Loveland and then riding from there to Marietta on my Kawasaki concours C-14 to join up on Wednesday. I had been raving about the MSTA people and the comradery and the atmosphere for years to anyone who would listen and then this week just still blew me away!
After a long ride for all of us 7 in the Appalachian backroads all day Wednesday, Rusty started complaining about stomach pain and he just wanted to lay low on Thursday with Nick agreeing to give him company at the hotel and Mark, Jim and me took off to do our riding for the day. Around lunchtime, we get a text from rusty informing us that he had admitted himself into the ER; our hearts just dropped as we had no idea what to do 450 miles from home and his family. We all troop to ER and find out the bad news: gall bladder needed to be removed. Now this is where the whole MSTA apparatus swung into action. I just went back to the event and started talking with friends (and strangers) about the incident and was just overwhelmed by the offers for help and support coming in. Not one person questioned the ability of Rusty to be riding at his age or said, “not my problem”!
Long story short, Rusty was operated on Thursday evening and then managed to convince the doctors to release him so he can get the rest of his treatment done back home in Indiana. Eric Waggoner stepped up to bring him from the hospital in his truck (and avoid the spectacle of Rusty and I double-up on the c-14); others had already offered to bring him including Mark Brunk, Jon Campbell, Rick Smith…
But the logistics of getting him and his scooter back still posed as a challenge. Hold your horses! A snap of a finger and all the troubles disappeared: Jerry Patten from Valparaiso volunteered to take the scooter back on his trailer (It was fortunate that his wife Connie came with him which required him to trailer his FJR). Scott Lane worked tirelessly to tie down that monster of a scooter! Jeff Dolence had also volunteered to take the scooter up to Dayton and keep it there until we got it figured out but thankfully Jerry’s help came through, so we didn’t need that option. Now came the question of getting Rusty back: Jeff stepped up and took him in his truck to Dayton (minus the scooter) and I went on my c-14 to Loveland to mike’s, parked it there and drove my car from there to Dayton and picked up rusty to get him home Sunday evening! Alls well that ends well!!
Patrick Mogavero and I had a few conversations about what it is to be a MSTA member, and this is exactly why: a group of enthusiasts that share a common thread of love for riding supporting each other in every way possible. The empathy and mental support we all received from all was just amazing! Thank you from all of us!! Sorry if I missed any names!
editors note: This appeared on our Facebook group page the Monday after the rally. It was a totally unsolicited and unexpected post by Yash. I was able to have dinner with both Yash and Rusty on Saturday evening and Rusty was up and walking around. A little weak but in good spirits. We are hoping and praying for a full recovery with no complications. Many of us have similar stories about the people in the club going out of their way to make sure that everyone is treated well and never left behind or neglected when they need help. It is people like the ones mentioned in the story that make this such a great association.