Nice 105th Anniversary Edition Harley

I saw my friend a few days ago, the one who sold us his Victory Kingpin. He had a brand new 2008 Harley Heritage Softail Classic-105th Anniversary Edition. I guess they are coming out with a new ‘special’ edition every five years. What great marketing.

The Harley was beautiful! I especially liked the two-tone leather seat, black on the sides and brown down the center. The color scheme is black and orange, Harley colors. The studs accent the seat and saddlebags, so the bike shines. Take a look for yourselves. Isn’t it a beauty?

Birthday Memories '08

This weekend was my birthday and I celebrated, of course, by taking a motorcycle ride. The sun was out but it was cool, in the 40’s. As each year goes by, I become closer to the person I really want to be. This year was a milestone for me, one I wish I could have avoided. The reality was that I was going to enjoy my life from here on out, which means taking chances and doing things that are difficult, so I can be a better person for it.

Motorcycling has become the go-to activity for solving all of my anxieties. I was having a hard time just a couple of weeks ago with my mood and winter being so awfully long. But since then the sun has come out every few days and my mood and life in general is looking pretty good right now. This also ties in with the fact that I’ve ridden my motorcycle on every one of those nice days. It’s still been almost too cool to enjoy the ride, but once I get out it is all forgotten and worth enduring the elements.

With Dave on the Victory and myself on the Vulcan, we headed out towards Fall City where we had gone before and enjoyed the scenic ride. We got as far as Issaquah, a town near the base of the Snoqualmie pass and I-90. We stopped at one of the last XXX Root Beer drive-ins left in the states, and the only one left in the Northwest. We both had a big icy mug of the creamiest root beer and some fried mushrooms dipped in ranch dressing. I said I was living dangerously!

We had a nice ride back routing around Lake Sammamish. The water had shiny ripples moving smoothly across, reflecting the blue and gray clouds above. My idiot gas light went on for the first time and I panicked. I wasn’t sure how far I could go after the light went on, and I didn’t really know where we were. It was kind of out in the country. I signaled to Dave and we eventually found a gas station. The calm that came over me once I gassed up was amazing. I am finding myself to be really high strung while riding my motorcycle. I worry a lot. I’m learning things about myself I never have experienced before. Once I had a full tank, the Zen calm came back to my ride.

When we got home there was just enough time to clean up and get ready to go out for a birthday dinner with my son and daughter-in-law. I made sure we didn’t go anywhere with a ‘senior’ menu.

The ‘Other’ American Made Motorcycle Joins the Fleet

This week was a crazy one. The weather was variable and sunny so I was able to commute to work twice during the week on my Vulcan. What a welcome relief that was. It sure cut into the winter doldrums and made me feel human again. It’s amazing how a couple of rides can change your whole attitude and outlook on life.

During the week I received a call from a former co-worker who had just purchased the 2008 105th Anniversary edition of the Harley Soft tail. He needed to sell his 2 year old Victory Kingpin within 2 days, or he was trading it in at the Harley dealer. Might I add that they were going to give him nearly nothing for the Victory on trade-in. My husband had been looking at the Victories, wishing he could have one for his next bike. I had known my friend bought the Victory new and had taken great care of it. He trailered it to Sturgis last year and rode all around that area with it for a few days. We got a great deal on the bike, since the Harley dealer was going to steal it anyway.

To make a long story short, we are now the proud owners of a 2005 Victory Kingpin with all the options to make it a ‘deluxe’. Alas, it was raining again yesterday, but Dave rode it to work for the first time, and rode home in a downpour. He is very happy with the ride and performance of the bike.


Now our garage has four motorcycles with no room for cars anymore. We are parking our other vehicles outside for now. We have my 2005 Suzuki S-40, my 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic, Dave’s 2003 Honda Shadow A.C.E., and the 2005 Victory Kingpin. I want to sell the Suzuki and Honda, since I know we won’t be riding them much now that we have more comfortable cruisers. Dave wants to hang on to all of them, and build more garage space. What a dilemma!