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 🙂

The Deal for the last few years has been: “buy me a house, and you can get a new bike”.

Thank God for Missus Zip. She’s a capitalist at heart, and a deal maker. I love the hell out of her.

It all started years ago, when I was into Fly Fishing. I’d notice that If I spent 250 bucks on a fly fishing trip, she’d spend 250 bucks on scrapbooks, or whatever she was into at the time. You’d start to notice that the trip would cost you 500 bucks.

Yeah, quid pro quo.

Yeah, I got her a house. We close in 3 days. I’m buying a new bike in 4.

I’m thinking Street Glide.

I might end up getting the Christmas Spirit. It’s about that time…

We put in an offer on a house, and it was accepted. I’m fairly fired up about it. It’s also gonna make this christmas kinda nuts, but I’m ready for it.

About 10 years ago, I made some terrible business decisions I’ve had to pay for, financially. Some were my fault, some weren’t. Whatever. I’ve had to pay up for them, and I guess thats how it should be. It got so bad, I filed for unemployment, something I’ve never wanted to do. It took some time, but I’ve paid all that money back.

I think the single biggest thing my father taught me was the lesson about character; You have to learn how to have it. At the end of the day, its the most valuable thing you have. You have to be a man of your word, you have to have something you stand for.

I laugh sometimes because I’m a tattoo’d, foul mouthed biker. I’m also the most honest guy I think I know. In the balance of things, I like that balance.

I don’t know what I’m saying here…. Maybe it’s just… that I’m relieved, my life is moving on and I’m ready for the future. I’m ready quite honestly, to kick some ass again. I’ve learned some lessons, and It’s time to do what I know is right.

So they accepted my offer on a house. I’m about back to square one, before things changed. I came out pretty good; some lessons learned but I’ve got a helluva family. I have a bike in the garage. I have a woman that I respect and love. My kids are all honest and hardworking too. I’ve got A grandkid who’s parents are passing down good things too.

And my dog is genuinely happy to see me when I come home. I’m a king, I tell ya.

Merry Fucking Christmas. If all goes well, we’ll close in 20 days, and have Chrismas in the new house.

Life is good.

I’m sitting here, not much to do here, but to enjoy a good Arizona Morning. Got me some coffee, the sun is coming up, and the day is on. Who know’s what the fuck its gonna bring.

I need to catch up on my blog. I’m just not going to, right now.

The Tour is over. It was killer. Great group, great riders and a whole helluva lotta fun. We had the hottest temperatures on record for Louisiana, but I think everyone had fun. At least I hope so.

I’m sitting here in Marfa Texas. Its a small, Texas town who’s claim to fame includes the movies Giant (James Dean’s last film) and No Country for Old Men (a favorite). Tomorrow, I’ll make around 600 miles and sleep in my own bed and then take the Van to Los Angeles, and fly home

The whole tour was awesome. One for the books. I’m not gonna lie; I miss my wife, my kids and my dog.