One of the reasons I wanted a bone stock Street Glide, is I enjoy how much fun it is to customize.

I’m also glad as hell I got the Street Glide. I really like this bike. Good power, and man…. it handles really well. I can make some miles on this thing. I’m having to make some decisions here; tour pak vs sissy bar luggage…. all that shit.

To me, there’s some basics ya gotta cover when you’re customizing a bike.

Seat: It’s where the wheel meets the road as far as comfort goes. Your ass is what hurts on a long ride. Ya gotta have a good seat. There’s a little bit of science I think that goes into that.

Pipes: Harley changed it’s sound when they got away from carburation, and went to fuel injected models. Plus, the government and all its regulations has made a Harley sound more like a Honda over the years. It is what it is.

The details. Shit like; floorboards, grips… fuel door covers. Things you stare at and just make you proud to own a harley. Sure, they’re bullshit window dressings, but they round out a bike. And I like them.

But my first priority is touring. Shit I can use, when I’m on the road.

So, new bike…. new day… I’ve tried to keep an open mind here, and with all the options that weren’t afforded to me the last time I purchased a Harley — I’ve debated trying something new vs going with what has worked for me in the past.

In this case, it’s a seat. I like a good solo seat. I just like exposing that back fender and if you can find a comfortable one, it just makes the bike look good. The design of a Harley has lines; Don’t fuck up the lines.

I’ve always bought Danny Gray seats — I just like them. They’re low profile, and well made.

I tried a mustang seat. It looked OK, but it rode like ass. I’m not a fan. Tried a couple others, and I just went back to what I knew.

I think I had it right the first time: I got another Danny Gray seat. I’ve bought 3 different ones, this one is called the speed cradle. It’s like butta. It’s like hand of your mother holding you as a newborn baby. Thats fucking right. Plus, If I might add —- I just think it looks quite good.

I also got some saddle bag guards so I can put my bike registration, my tool kit and a bottle of water when I’m riding. Ya gotta have those things.

The next thing is pipes. I love my bike, but this thing sounds more like a blender than it does a Harley. That’s my next purchase. I’m thinking vance and hines, like I had on my last Street Glide.

Ride safe, ya biker pricks!

I found me some free time today, and decided to go back to Coolidge dam. Hell, it was going to be 75 degrees today. In February. That just begs for a ride. Plus I saw some side roads the last ride, and this time I had a little time to mozy.

I fucking love this bike. Harley did a great job here. Even bone stock, its got good power for passing, pulling a hill and it just…. handles well. I’m still figuring out a few of the details on how I like it set up, but so far its got a good answer to all of my questions and I’m pretty happy with the purchase.

I headed out around 11. Temps were nice and not a cloud in the sky — I swear to God I hear my bike Purr. I twisted a throttle and headed east, toward the mining town of Superior and Globe.

Rode up through the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Beautiful country. I minded my P’s and Q’s. If you remember History, the Apaches don’t fuck around. Tribal police and all, I kept the speed limit.

I crossed underneath the 60, and toward Coolidge Dam.

This whole area felt weird. You can tell it hasn’t been maintained for a while, at least for a road heading toward a Dam. There were ghosts of old Marinas, and signs showing businesses that had been long gone. How long, I’m not sure.

The Coolidge dam has somewhat of a cool history. Built from 1924 to 1928, it was part of an irrigation project was needed to tame the rivers, and build water storage for farmers.

The dam has had a crazy history of water levels, which was it’s intended use. At times, its the largest body of water in Arizona with 158 miles of shoreline. Other times, not so much.

I doubled back, toward the crick and checked out some things I’d missed.

This may be a ride I’ll do a third time, as there were yet more roads that I wanted to check out but wasn’t able to see due to time.

Sorry to be profane here, but yeah…. the guy has huge balls.

I don’t care about his hair, or the fact that he’s orange or any of the superficial shit that the media throws at him. He tweets a lot.

Did you see the latest deal with Israel? I like it.

Yeah, the man has balls. Let me tell you a thing:

The economy. No matter what happens; no matter what’s going on, no matter if you’re gay, or straight, or the climate is going to fuck us: if we’re broke, nothing can happen. Like, nothing. I don’t want too much out of a president: He’s certainly not my influencer on day to day matters. I just need him to handle shit.

Like, what shit? Like: I don’t want a rogue country like North Korea to send a missile our way. I want an economy to thrive: I want opportunities: for me, and my kids. If we’re broke, we can’t do anything. Basically, positive shit. I want positive shit.

I think a lot of people who are chiming in on this are dumb as hell.

Climate change; Yeah, I’ve heard that forever. The world has been doomed because of humans since the 1960s. The deadlines have come, and they’ve gone. If I had a dollar for the planets doom for every time society has proclaimed it, I’d have 20 dollars.

Not that we have to be dumb: we can’t be. Be more green: learn from the past. Just don’t get knee jerk about the past.

Sanity. God, use common sense. Fuck the fact that he’s orange, or how often he tweets, or how he says it. Who cares about that.

I just want a sane leader who effects my life, and my opportunties for the future.

Don’t like it? Lets fight.

Great song.

Man, I gotta. It’s effected my life for long enough. I’m tired of being a slave to my past.

Let me tell you about my family; I had a helluva father — he was a good, honest man who took his responsibilities as a father seriously. He was also a pillar in the community. He owned a business, was an helluva leader and a spiritual guide for many. I couldn’t have asked for anything else. I loved the hell out of him, and he was the best man I’ve ever known.

My mother did the best she could: she tried to live up, but she couldn’t, and it caused a little bit of friction in my house. My dad was a God in the community. My mom struggled to keep up, and she did the best she could. She had some mental health issues, and struggled with depression. She sounds like a handful, but I loved my mom. She was always there for me, and taken in context of the times, she did the level best she could.

At the age of 16 I was a little pot smoking idiot kid, and my mom and Dad struggled in their marriage at the time. My fathers commitment held the whole thing together, which I greatly admire. He was just that guy. My mother lost herself in the whole thing. I ended up living with her for a time.

They were good times. I grew up a little, and my mother and I became close. Maybe moreso than my brothers and sisters.

Heh, my dad was a force of nature. The thing that I learned from his was honesty; I think my whole life I’ve tried to measure up to that. I think his principles were what made him a great man. I miss him, and his wisdom.

I learned compassion from my mother. For all her faults, she was a good woman, and did her best to support her husband and raise a good family. This was the 50s and 60s and 70s. Times were different, and a lot of times weakness in any area was looked so highly on. I’m not going to apologize for her — she was awesome, and I miss her.

My father died at the age of 65, when I was 23. It was the worst day of my life. I had just married a year or so before, and when my wife came and told me the news, I could see it in her face before she told me. My father was gone. My employer, my rock…. the best man I’ve ever known, like I said. All of a sudden I was unemployed, and I knew I had to be the man now. I had no net to catch me. I also knew that since I was the closest to my mom, I had to try and take care of her, as much as a 23 year old can.

Shit happened pretty fast at that time. I bought a bunch of my fathers heavy equipment, and it was time to be man. I started my own excavating business, with a loan I got from my family. With interest, which is how the real world works.

Things went well, for a few years…. then the Internet came along, and I took to that like a fish to water. It was perfect. I ended up selling my heavy equipment and sold the business, to get into this new technology. The whole thing made sense to me.

I’d bounced around in the technology world, making huge money at times and not so much others.

I’m a pretty sane guy; prone to logic and not getting overcome by emotion. I think I’m a lot like my dad that way.

On my birthday, in 2010 my business of 100 employees crashed and burned. I saw it coming a year earlier, yet I didn’t have the balls to make a change. It is what it is.

in 2011, my mother died. She’d given into her demons, and was taking a slew of prescriptions near the end. I saw it all as I settled her estate and read her writings (she loved to write). I think its what killed her. Even so, she’d lived to a ripe old age of 77, and maybe it was just her time. To this day, I miss her.

My family went to shit. Some of the things I heard them say when they were dealing with it, and settling her estate made me vomit in my mouth. It was dumb as hell. There was a lawsuit between her and her kids. I can’t help but think it couldn’t have been handled better, considering she was their mother. It was terrible to see that they couldn’t see my mom for what she was; A good person — hell, a great person who’d done the level best she could and was fighting her problems. Considering her demons, she was a helluva good woman. There was no compassion.

I moved to Phoenix to be clear of that, and do my own thing. Not that they are bad people, but I just see things differently. I’m cool with that, but I’m not so sure they are. I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t wish that I was close with them, but I’m not holding out any hope for reconciliation. Quite simply, we just come at the world from different places. I’m not sure I even want to.

In the legacy of my father: It’s not all just about business, or religion or even family. It’s balance in life. Its about having your kids love and remember you, at least in my eyes. Pass good things down. He had that. He taught us that. They’ll pass down what is important to them and hope it sticks, and I’ll pass down what is important to me. I hope it sticks.

I’m doing my own thing; on purpose. I have a great family. My kids are I are close; 30 years ago I saw something in my wife that I wanted in my life, and she’s never disappointed. She’s the most centered person I know, and between me and her, we’ve raised a great family. I’ve learned from my fathers legacy I think, and hopefully I’ll pass some of that good stuff down. Things like honesty, and integrity. They have that. I’m proud as hell of that.

Thanks for letting me vent; I just had to get it out.

yeah, I dig this bike. Even bone stock, she’s got good power and she begs to stretch her legs.

Nice ride today. I didn’t get any pictures, I was too much in the zone I think. Yeah, I love this bike.

It’s funny. I’ve voted since I was able to vote, and I’ve seen how society changes. I’m also a student of history, and seen how society reacts to things before I was born. People, it turns out… are funny.

I barely went to college. I went, mainly to chase tail, and it was the best decision I ever made: I met my wife there. One of my favorite classes, however was sociology. The study of people. I think some of the lessons stuck.

What I got out of that class has somehow stayed with me: Individuals are sane; Get them in a group, and they react differently. Man, how true is that.

I’ve kept my eye on things over the years. America has gone in waves of sanity, and waves of insanity. The pendulum has always swung. The insane has always brought out new ideas, the sane has always brought us back to center.

I may not be making any sense here: Let me try and clarify.

Liberals are fucking nut jobs, but they have good ideas now and again. You just have to pick the pony out of the pile of shit. Conservatives, are all very sane, but they don’t think out of the box.

We need like an 80/20 mix. The crazies to move us ahead, but the sane make things actually work. I’m not entirely sure humanity can make that balance…. someday, maybe.

Let me back up even further: I’m a trump man. I think he’s the right guy, for the right time. He reminds me a lot of Reagan, but on steroids. He’s got the country moving in the right direction. I have so much to say about this subject, but I’m not going to bore you with what I think. We needed a radical guy, to get back to center, basically. I was fan 5 years ago, before he became president. I was right about him.

To me, its all about freedom. You can gloss that over all you want, but freedom is what makes us all tick. Not just the US, but humanity. I’m a constitution guy; put up the right system, and sane people with thrive. We’re living in a great time right now; everything is at our fingertips, and there is opportunity everywhere. I love it. All you can ever ask for is opportunity.

Freedom.

I’m going to shut up, and get off my soapbox. Just some thoughts from a guy in his garage, dreaming about where he can go in life.

So we’re pretty much settled in. Shit has happened so fast, I haven’t had much of a chance to reflect on it.

I think I love San Tan Valley. I’m on the far southeast edge of the Phoenix valley and I touch in old school Arizona country. A block east of me are farms. I can get on my bike and head out from here, and I love that. A few blocks west and there’s a Target and a Harbor Freight. Missus Zip is partial to suburbia, I’m partial to the country. This was a nice compromise.

My amenities? Shit son, let me tell you;. They are fine. My closest retail store is a mile from me. A hardware store. Their most prominent and biggest section of the store is all things BBQ. I’ve got several options of lump charcoal, various woods, and anything you’d need to put a bird, pig or cow meat on to make it taste delicious. When you go into the hardware section, you can ask a question, and actually learn something from the guy. They even throw out non-political correct things to you like “merry Christmas”. I saw a guy in there yesterday with spurs on his boots. It was like a shot in the arm.

2 miles down the road is a legitimate butcher shop. I can go in and order fresh pig livers to make Louisiana Boudin if I want, and they’re not going to give me a blank stare. I can get beef ribs that weren’t some corporate buyers afterthought. Pork skin to make cracklins. I’ve always wanted a legit Butcher shop. Ahh, It’s the little things that get you excited 🙂

Anyway, I digress.

The bike is broken in. I went for a ride with my son in law last weekend, he did his first 200 miles on a Harley and I think he enjoyed it. We did a county loop down toward Tucson and then up through mining country. Nice ride.

I’m jonesing to go for a long ride. Soon.

Still got a few things in boxes, but I wanna clear that up today.

Ride safe, ya biker pricks.

Phoenix, gets 4 to 9 inches of rain per year annually. You never know when its going to come, but its mostly during the monsoon season in July to October.

Yeah, this year it came in the fist part of the year, and the day before and after I bought a new bike.

If I was an idiot, I’d say it was global warming, or climate change or whatever they’re calling it now. but I’m not an idiot. It’s dumb luck. Or my luck. Either way, it’s damn inconvenient. I need to break this bike in.

Internal combustion engines are a crap shoot, but new bikes gotta break in. Piston rings gotta seat, and all the moving parts get to where they are comfortable doing what they are designed to do. New Mothers worry over nursing new babies; Bikers worry over breaking in new bikes.

I’m gonna do this one right. The first 500 miles I’ll do what they tell me to do; vary my RPM for the first 500 miles between 1500 and 3k. I’m doing it mostly because there’s some local things I wanna explore, and 500 miles isn’t a problem. I think I have a pretty good grasp on how engines work, and this method doesn’t exactly make sense to me, but I’ll do it anyway. I should have that by the new year. I’d have had it now, if it wasn’t raining.

I’m fired up as all hell. I’m gonna go see a thing on this bike.

The move went good. I’ve moved so much the last 10 years that we hired movers this time just to get it done. We boxed everything up and had it ready, and these guys came in all jacked up and ready to move a thing. They made short work out of it.

Christmas eve I pulled the trigger on a new bike. I wasn’t expecting it to happen that day, but it just did. I was expecting it to take some time. I went down to the dealership with shorts and flip flops, just to see what they had.

I wanted a bone-stock Street Glide. Black. Like a blank slate, that I can customize the way I want. The only upgrade I wanted was a Stereo upgrade, and I was ready to pay the 800 extra bucks plus labor to do that.

The salesman was legit; He wasn’t some kid who didn’t know what he was talking about; he was an ex-military biker who had clearly made some miles in his day. We swapped stories and I immediately liked him. He showed me a silver street glide that I wasn’t in love with, then I asked him if he had a stock black one. They did: a 2020, in flat black.

I asked him the price. I gave him a low ball offer, just to see what his manager would do. I realize they have doc fees (Arizona has reasonable ones) and all kinds of markups they like to slip in, and I figure we could negotiate between the set factory price, those fees and I could be happy somewhere in between. Then, I’d ask them to throw in the upgraded Stereo, and we’d negotiate on that.

I gotta admit; I love that part. I’m not good at much, but I can fucking haggle. My favorite line is “Hey, I understand…. Don’t get yourself in trouble — if it doesn’t work for you, that’s cool. That’s the number that works for me…”. And you have to be ready to walk out and end the deal, and find another dealership. Part of my throwing out a low price, was just to see if they even *would* haggle. Some dealerships will, some wont.

Long story short, they took my offer. I cut a fat cow, or a tush hog, or whatever. I’m pretty happy with it all.

2020 FLHX Street Glide, with the upgraded Stereo Nav and 5 miles on it when I rode it off the lot in the pouring rain in shorts and flip flops on Christmas Eve.

It’s in my garage now. I’m all giddy about it.

Went riding with my son in law today and he took my old bike, up to Tortilla flat. I’ve got about 400 more miles to break her in.

I think it’s the start of a beautiful relationship 🙂