Thanks for a 39 year run...hangin up the chaps , stay safe ya'll!
#11
09-01-2014, 08:03 AM
Seasoned HDF Member
#13
09-01-2014, 08:05 AM
Road Warrior
I've often wondered if this same thing will happen to me. Been riding motorcycles and snowmobiles for almost 40 years. I'm guessing I may follow in your foot steps when I hit my sixties but for now its two wheels in the summer and two ski's in the winter.
Love to see your car at one of the cruise nights. Do you attend any of the shows near the coast on New Hampshire?
Love to see your car at one of the cruise nights. Do you attend any of the shows near the coast on New Hampshire?
#16
09-01-2014, 08:11 AM
#18
09-01-2014, 08:25 AM
well...I started riding HD's in 1975..and I never thought it would happen to ME...but it happened. The love had been fading for about the last 5 years..little by little. About 2 years ago I bought a hot-rod 72 Chevelle..and started getting into the local cruise night scene, and then after hanging around with a car club, I joined it. Weekends come and it's off to the car shows with the guys...meanwhile the bike sits in the garage, more and more.
The wife, who met me in 1981, and fell in love with not just me, but my 67 XLCH, bad-boy, kick only, "straight pipes from hell", Sporty, hung on tight as we raced through the night. Bar to bar we hopped...and prayed to God we made it home without crashing, or getting locked up...then we settled down in the 90's and it was weekend cruising on the Low Rider..then 3 kids later it was pretty much just me and the guys. On the Springer...then the Fatboy,..then the FLH...and a boat load of bikes in between...then she stopped taking rides with me at all. She became afraid of the danger, of leaving 3 kids motherless in some flaming wreck...then came a lot of friends killed, or injured...then came sobriety for me 7 years ago..which meant leaving behind the drinking buddies to bar-hop without me...and then came, I guess..a change in me. I stopped waking up in the morning and having my first thought be "when can I ride?"...my interests changed. I started flying lessons. I want to travel more, I like car cruising..etc.
So Saturday, I made the decision. I called a friend who knew I was thinking of getting out. He came right over, gave me a pile of $100's, and I gave him a dream bike. I know he will use it as it should be used. I will see it around town. I will get to touch it again. Maybe even ride it if I want. But it is over.
I wish everyone of you a safe journey through this spinning madness we call life. May you never lose the love you have for these fine machines. May you always have a gentle wind of good fortune in your beards, as you cruise..
Via Con Dios my Harley friends, it's been fun.
Joe
The wife, who met me in 1981, and fell in love with not just me, but my 67 XLCH, bad-boy, kick only, "straight pipes from hell", Sporty, hung on tight as we raced through the night. Bar to bar we hopped...and prayed to God we made it home without crashing, or getting locked up...then we settled down in the 90's and it was weekend cruising on the Low Rider..then 3 kids later it was pretty much just me and the guys. On the Springer...then the Fatboy,..then the FLH...and a boat load of bikes in between...then she stopped taking rides with me at all. She became afraid of the danger, of leaving 3 kids motherless in some flaming wreck...then came a lot of friends killed, or injured...then came sobriety for me 7 years ago..which meant leaving behind the drinking buddies to bar-hop without me...and then came, I guess..a change in me. I stopped waking up in the morning and having my first thought be "when can I ride?"...my interests changed. I started flying lessons. I want to travel more, I like car cruising..etc.
So Saturday, I made the decision. I called a friend who knew I was thinking of getting out. He came right over, gave me a pile of $100's, and I gave him a dream bike. I know he will use it as it should be used. I will see it around town. I will get to touch it again. Maybe even ride it if I want. But it is over.
I wish everyone of you a safe journey through this spinning madness we call life. May you never lose the love you have for these fine machines. May you always have a gentle wind of good fortune in your beards, as you cruise..
Via Con Dios my Harley friends, it's been fun.
Joe
That time will come for all of us, ever thought of being a writer?
#20
09-01-2014, 08:37 AM
..thanks for all the well wishes, and understanding from all of you. Sometimes you just have to know when the envelope of luck has been pushed to it's limit...I live on the South Shore of MA, and it is an absolute hot-bed of dazed cagers driving around texting, drinking, speeding, rushing...it's getting worse and worse...if I lived in Wyoming, we wouldn't be having this talk...but I don't and I want to see grand kids someday...
It's a warm feeling to here all the nice sentiments from you good people as I fade away into the background..
and one lats thing... for us old members oh this forum...may Motoman rest in peace!
Final post,
Joe