mixed feelings

About 5PM today "Spot," my true & faithful companion of the last 13 years, went to his new home in Olive Hill.

Spot is a 1994 Harley Davidson FLHTP that I bought almost new in November 1994. For six years I rode whenever there wasn't snow on the ground, putting on average 3x as many miles per year on the bike as on my other vehicles. I've had seven bags of groceries on it; I've had three rolls of chicken wire on the back, and I've moved three months' worth of supplies (when I was returning from a time of working out of town) from western Kentucky to eastern Tennessee, which took two trips.

In 2001 I stopped riding. There were a lot of small reasons, but the big one (the big hidden reason, the one I didn't figure out till much later) was that I'd decided my luck was about to run out. Over 50,000 miles without an injury? There are way too many deer in these hills, too many young/ drunk/ distracted/ angry/ inexperienced/you-name-it drivers, and too many years on these eyes & reflexes - for that kind of luck to hold out.

So I parked it.

I've felt sorry for that hunk of metal sitting there, as always giving inanimate objects human traits I've imagined it sad & wondering what it had done to be abandoned in this way.

Good luck to KW, the new owner. He looks as enthusiastic as I once felt. Keep the rubber side down, dude :)