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| On our way to Daytona in '98 |
You see, this bike? Well that's our 18 yr old "Geezer Glide". In this picture it's packed and on it's way to Daytona for Bike Week. This was in '98 and El Nino was blowing through. Just so happened that on the morning we were to leave, it was 50-some degrees out so we canceled the trailer rental and decided to ride. So we packed up our clothes, tent, and sleeping bags and off we went. Took us two days riding about 10 hrs a day to get there. The further south we got, the warmer it got. It was a good ride.
Of course when we got to Daytona it was COLD. Low 60ºs during the day and dropping down to the 40ºs at night. Which might have been ok had we been staying in a motel. But we were camping out and sleeping on the cold ground. Needless to say, on the trip home I got so sick that I completely lost a day. We had to stop and put up in a motel so we were late by a day getting home. The morning after we got home we woke up to snow on the ground. Made it just in time.
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| Flat tire on way to Peoria races. |
We've had quite a few good times on this old bike. Lots of road trips. Lots of great memories. We used to put 10,000 miles a year on it--mostly doing road trips. We enjoyed going to flat track bike races in Hagerstown, MD; Peoria, IL; Parkersburg ,WV; and even Indianapolis a time or two. This bike has also been to Myrtle Beach four times, Alburquerque, NM, and Memphis, TN. I wasn't there on the two latter trips, but that's no matter. This isn't about me. It's about an old, reliable friend. This old bike has gotten us there and back many a time without a hitch.
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| New Friend |
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So, when Mike brought our new V-Rod home it was a bittersweet moment. I was excited of course, but also sad that we will soon part with our old friend. You might ask why we got a V-Rod, which is a much smaller bike. Well, you see, we haven't taken a road trip in many years now so we no longer need a big bike. Plus, our old bike is, well, old. Though we've maintained it well and taken good care of it, it's still older. So it's time for a new bike.
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| New V-Rod | | | |
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My only hope is that our old reliable friend will find a good home and that the new owner will have as many happy memories as we've had on it. I will miss it dearly. It's truly the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.
