lil red needle box: If two wheels are good....

DH's beloved 2004 V-Rod:

People stopped us to see it.

I have heard it called 'sexy'.

It was his baby.

It was fast.

It was a lot of chrome.

It was powerful.

And yes, it was sexy.

But it wasn't built for touring.

One's butt (meaning MINE) would be numb after about 5 hours on it. One LOVED the power but loved feeling her (me again) butt more.

DH was pushing me to ride the V-Rod so we could ride together.... I would have loved to ride it but feared that 1) My lead foot, or in this situation, lead glove, would get me in trouble in the 'excessive speed' department, and B) I would tip the bike, scratching something. DH would never complain if I did, but I did not want to disappoint him and I felt certain that at some point, I would tip it. After all, its been 35 years since I piloted a motorcycle.

So we bought a 2011 Ultra Classic Limited. Now this bike is built for touring!! It was like sitting on the couch in our living room. I could close my eyes and have all the comforts of home: music, intercom, cup holder, and time with hubby.

But those comforts do not come lightly (pun intended). The Ultra Classic was about 300 pounds heavier than the V-Rod. And while DH will protest this fact, he is not a spring chicken.

I worried about the weight of the heavier machine. Add the weight of my (no longer numb) butt and some luggage and you are talking a full time job balancing the bike.

The Ultra Classic was FAR too heavy for me to ride so that was out.

But, boy, the touring part was wonderful.

A new friend in our motorcycle club had decided to get a CamAm and was selling his 2005 Sportster. The bike was near perfect, the miles were low, and price was beautiful.

AND!!! it was the perfect bike for me to ride.... not too heavy, not too big, not too fast, and not too expensive.... and NOT sexy at all. But that is what I wanted: something not too valuable in the event that I have become a slow, and clumsy student in my old age.

For those of you counting; yes, we are at three motorcycles. And yes, three are too many.   But which one goes? The V-Rod has the emotional attachment, the Ultra Classic is the "us" motorcycle for trips, and the Sportster is the only one I am willing to ride. Since DH is hot for me to ride, the choice was harder rather than easier.

DH decided that the V-Rod had to go but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. We listed it but didn't really get aggressive about selling it. So nothing much happened and we had three motorcycles.

Due to the number of trips we wanted to take, and that the Ultra Classic was so heavy, and DH is not one of the aforementioned chickens, I told DH I would like him to consider the budget and maybe get a trike next year (2015).

The very next day, someone wanted to see the V-Rod. I asked 10 times if he was sure he wanted to sell it. Yes... yes, he did.   However, we needed to leave the house at 7 am the next morning for the airport. The prospective buyers, coming from Tucson, offered to be at our house at 6 am.   6AM????

DH then calls me to the computer.... look!! aren't they pretty? He shows me Trikes. I thought we were going to wait until 2015!?!?!?! but apparently DH has just slightly less than ZERO patience. He really liked the retro looking one.... and I did too.

The buyers called the next morning saying that they had trouble along the road and wanted to try for 11.30am that same day.   DH took the V-Rod for one more trip and I recorded it for him.

Just as DH was finishing his ride, the buyers arrived. They test drove the V-Rod, talked for a while, and took our beautiful, blue boy back to Tucson with them.

After the great-niece, Katelin, rested, DH drug us off to his "magic kingdom" (aka the Harley Davidson store) to look at trikes.   He is all ready to drive a black one home but I talk him into looking at the sand/brown one he liked on the website. We drive CLEAR across town, with Katelin and me in the pickup and DH on the Ultra Glide, to look at that trike.

Katelin was amazingly patience during the 5 hours we were there. We finally leave... without the Ultra Glide. However, she did exhibit a sincere look of unhappiness when I told her we had to go back the next day. Truth be told, I probably had the same look on my face.

The next day, we dropped DH off at the Harley Davidson store, K picked out a t-shirt (to thank her for her patience), and K and I left for lunch.

DH met us about 30 minutes later with his new 2014 Harley Davidson Tri-Glide. As of this morning, it had all of 65 miles on it.

My hubby is a very happy man.