SOLD: The End of an Era

The 2015 Road Glide Ultra is sold. Gone. For the first time in a little more than 11 years, Annette and I don't own a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The experience of selling the bike was bittersweet and somewhat emotional for about a hour. And then I set my heart on a new course.

I sent a text to my family just moments after closing the deal. Lindsey, our youngest daughter, replied with this message: "Wow. End of an era. Glad you had such fun times on those guys. Thankful you stayed safe. But excited about the new adventures." This text message has informed my thinking over these last few days.

END OF AN ERA
In 2008, faced with the reality that my work schedule and the challenge of getting on and off of the lakes here in central Florida, we decided to sell our boat. After decades of spending much of our free time on the water - fishing, skiing, tubing, and enjoying time with family and friends - we had to acknowledge that we just didn't have time for what was most often an all-day venture. So I enrolled in a basic rider course, sold the boat, and embraced a new form of adventuring.

THOSE GUYS

We owned four Harley-Davidson motorcycles in our years of riding. We started on a 2003 100th-anniversary-edition FXST Softail Standard. This was our "see-if-we-like-it" machine - and it wasn't a bad bike at all for a "starter" bike. The plan was to ride this one for a year to see if we would use the bike. I rode for 1,000 miles before putting Annette on the bike, and rode this one 11,000 miles before deciding to trade it on something new. This was a very cool bike, and I would have kept her if I thought I could get away with it.

Eleven months into that year, we traded the Softail for a bike Annette would be more comfortable on - AND a bike that would allow us to do some long-distance riding. We welcomed our 2008 Street Glide into the family and rode that machine nearly 60,000 miles.

Concerned about the miles on that bike as well as the long-term affect of a horrible sand storm we rode through in Arizona in the summer of 2012, we decided it was time to sell the Street Glide and move on to the next motorcycle.

After a lot of reading and consulting with other riders - and always having something in me that likes to be a little unconventional - we decided to switch from the classic batwing-fairing Harley - the style of the Street Glide - to the fixed-fairing Road Glide. This was the first brand-new bike we purchased, a 2013 Road Glide Ultra. Annette let me do some pretty significant customization to this one (chrome front end, chrome wheels, custom floorboards and highway pegs, custom grips, and LED lights all around) - much done before I even took delivery. That was one beautiful bike, and I still miss her just a little.

Once again, high mileage became a cause for concern and we traded the '13 for a gently-used 2015 CVO Road Glide Ultra. Though we didn't anticipate hanging up the helmets so soon, we always thought we wanted our last bike to be a Custom Vehicle Operations motorcycle. These machines boast limited edition paint sets, a high performance motor, heated seats, and more chrome than any of us want to keep clean. But they are magnificent machines, for sure.

That was our line of "those guys" - the bikes we rode some 140,00 miles and enjoyed together for so many years.

GLAD YOU STAYED SAFE
By the grace of God, we survived all of those years and all of those miles. I had my share of "incidents".  I had one real "wreck" on the Street Glide when I went down in light rain as I lost control of the bike on some of these pretty (and very slick) big white arrows in the road. I dropped my bike trying to park on ice at the summit of Pike's Peak. I dropped my bike when I hit some deep sugar sand in a parking lot I thought was paved. (It was dark... no lights in the lot... I was leading... and I sprained my ankle.) But last year we had two incidents that really scared us. I was riding solo on the first and Annette was with me on the second. God protected me / us in both incidents. We didn't wreck, but we could have. These incidents made me appreciate again the danger of the sport. These incidents led me to thank the Lord for our safety over the years. And these incidents made me think that maybe it was time.

BUT EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW ADVENTURES
Boating was a season that lasted 30 years. Motorcycling represented yet another season that served us well for 11 years. In 2019, we adventure in a different way... with more wheels. I'll write about that later. But yes, we are excited. All of us this time - not just me... not just Annette and me.

The great philosopher Winnie the Pooh said, "As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen." I hope I am always viewed in this way. Wilfred Peterson wrote, "A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints." Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The purpose of life, after all is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."

One season of adventure is over. And a new season of adventure begins. This time... together.