The day I picked up my Harley Davidson.
There is a family I have known. On the road, around every corner. Pass me by and we will acknowledge one another. Nothing is said, it’s an attitude. Recognition of someone who doesn’t always live by the rules that most live by. We are different I have found. My brother, it’s more than just a means of transportation. I think when you’re not cocooned inside a tin can. You recognize people for who they are. Your brothers and sisters. The 1%.
A good day today. That’s exactly what I needed. If you have ever gone through a divorce you can understand how it is easy to lose your perspective. You really don’t know who you are anymore. You thought you knew and then your whole world seems to be turned upside down. However you don’t even need a divorce really to wake you up inside. I think it’s important to never lose yourself no matter what.
It was the divorce really that initially inspired me to get the Harley. But it wasn’t like you might think, I wasn’t going through a midlife crisis, or a second childhood, It was financial. As I said, going through a divorce is a real life changer, most often it changes you from rich to poor. I lost my car in the divorce and had no way to get around. A motorcycle was easier to finance and insure for less. Payments were about 250 a month. I could insure my Bike for about 300 per year. In some states you don’t even need to insure it. My Car was 300 a month for full coverage! My old car and others like it will get around 20 miles per gallon. A motorcycle, even a big one like mine gets about 45 MPG. The saving was significant.
I called the little cycle shop I was buying the bike from and they said it was ready. I had traded out some camera installation work as a down payment. And now it was ready to pick up. Ok now in truth I was feeling a little nervous. I drove motorcycles as a young man and I was comfortable on smaller bikes. But this was a 2007 Ultra Classic bagger. A very big bike. A real man’s bike to be sure. I looked on my cell phone once again at the pictures I took of her. Was I really gonna be able to handle this beautiful machine? Hell Yeah!
The paperwork seemed to take forever. One form after another the salesman drowned on in his explanation. I wonder if he could sense my anticipation of that first ride. My heart was pounding like a child at the principal’s office. It felt like somehow I wasn’t going to get it because I didn’t have enough experience riding or didn’t have the right class on my license. Then he handed me the keys. A young man came over and reviewed the features on the bike. He asked if I had rode before and I replied oh yeah for over thirty years. Mainly I meant to say yeah about thirty years ago. But hey that just wouldn’t be cool. He turned on the switch and hit the starter. There are some things I will never forget in my life. I was there when my children were born. I remember that initial cry as the doctor smacked them on the butt. When I heard that engine come to life, it was me who got smacked on the ass .Born Again…I almost cried. ok maybe I did I don’t know. As he covered the features one by one my mind raced on about what was about to happen. I think I asked every dumb question possible. My fear was growing with every feature checked off the list. I could just see me flying uncontrollably into traffic.” Pull it together man you can do this” I said to myself.
I will never forget that feeling of throwing a leg over and sitting on my Harley. The way the handlebars reach for you like a lover’s arms. The feeling of power runs through your body, through your veins and spills into your soul. There is no other feeling in the world I have ever known like it. I just have to stop here and say: If you know how that feels. If you know how it reaches into you. Then you will always be my brother. When I see you on the road on your Harley, I will give you the hand sign I get now everywhere I go. Two fingers and a thumb up. Its meaning to anybody who rides these amazing machines is clear. The day I picked up my Harley Davidson. I was born again. A free man. A young man. I had transcended my old life fading into the distance. I remembered who I really was. A Prodigy, a son of a biker.
On days since I have known freedom. The wind in my hair. A consistent surging and begging to go faster. A demon that whispers in my ear. Wisdom and experience is my Ally that fight the demon that whispers. I drive in a state of total awareness and concentration. The road sweeps beneath my feet in a blur. I pour into turns like a dance. It’s not about speed or how fast. It is the call of the road that drives my hands. I only now need to will myself in a direction and my machine reacts and obeys. This is what most people never experience. Being one with the machine. An Iron horse who knows every reaction and obeys my will. Ride to live,Live to ride.
The day I picked up my Harley Davidson, And it rained all the way home.
Check out my other blog post about playing in a rock n’ roll band in my 50s!
