This is a follow up to my "A Case of Seller's Remorse" post...
Selling my last CVO motorcycle may have been the proper thing to do to support my writer's journey, but it sure hurt. I finally figured I could salve my pain with a cheaper bike; one I could keep without feeling guilty. Then, I came across a real deal in Victoria, Texas and a rather complicated purchase became a nice, little adventure.
Since my sister Cathy's home is between my house in Georgetown and Victoria, my son Kent and I decided to spend the weekend with her and her two sons, Nick and Eli. On the way, we stopped at Black's Barbecue in San Marcos. It was a nice place but truthfully we were not impressed and the chopped beef we took to Cathy's boys at $16.50 a pound was frankly horrible.
Cathy fed us much better and her hospitality was a sweet reminder of just how good it is to have family. My son loves her couch and spent both nights sleeping on it.
If he looks a little messy, you will be happy to know my sister cleaned him up before we left.
Our grandpa cut hair in Huron, South Dakota for fifty years, so our mom cut all the kids hair while we were growing up. My sister inherited that well used equipment and even cuts her own hair with it now. fyi: That bib is the same one Grandpa used on us. It says, "Shave and a Haircut Two Bits".
Cathy has a beautiful home in the country. The view from her porch is always peaceful. Her boys made good use of the pool while their cousin Kent was there.
Monday morning, we headed to Victoria. We rented a U-Haul trailer once we got there but AJ, the bike's owner, was luckily a knowledgeable character. He told us that just trailering the bike wouldn't work, so we spent most of the afternoon finding a chock to hold the bike upright in the trailer and my son watched youtube videos (natch) to figure out how to properly tie the bike down for our trip back to Georgetown.
We did explore the city some, before stopping for supper and heading to the hotel.
For dinner, I had some of the finest fish, and definitely the best chips I've ever eaten at a place called the Bayside Seafood Restaurant. Both locals I asked recommended it specifically and they were right on.
We spent the night at the Marriott. I talked with Billy, a lineman for the railroad while my son swam in the hotel pool with his kids. Billy spends his days on a ten-mile section of railroad track, switching cars between engines. Since he might have a string of cars at 170,000 pounds each, even at eight miles an hour, he told me he would have to lock the brakes for the length of the hotel to come to a complete stop. I didn't think to ask him if he wears earplugs when braking.
The motorcycle I went on this adventure to buy was, of course, another CVO. CVO's are produced in very limited numbers on a separate line by the Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations engineering group. This one was a beautifully designed bike with a lot of attitude, but the title had been lost, so the bike was mostly sitting in storage for the last few years.
It only had 6,550 miles on the odometer and, even though it wasn't being ridden much, the owner took meticulous care of it. Deal or not, I would have walked away from this one if I had been on my own. Luckily, my brother Mark owns a used car dealership, "Classicstreet.com" and knew exactly what to do. It was quite a process that, among other things, involved a trip to the Victoria Police Station to verify the VIN as I worked my way toward obtaining a bonded title. I do want to mention that I've never seen a finer, friendlier group of people than those police officers. They were busy hosting a youth camp for the middle schoolers of the city but took their time and some effort to help us, without any fee to boot.
Bottom line, I ended up with a new bike but still had enough money in the bank from the sale of my old one to keep any "buyer's remorse" out of the purchase. My new CVO is even more fun to ride than my last one. I can see now why some Harley riders swear by the original "unbalanced" engine. I know one thing, I will not make the mistake of selling this motorcycle, no matter how long my writing journey lasts.