And Down She Goes..

The Harley saga continues....

Yesterday, I went down to the dealership to give them all of the documentation they needed and it occured to me that there might be an unsavoury element who try to obtain financing through Harley Davidson. Why do I say this? Well, for starters,the refinancing of my house (update on that coming soon) was less arduous than this deal.

My driver's license address did not match my application so I had to provide proof of residence because when repossessing, I imagine it is easier for Harley D to know where to find the bike. The trouble is, all of my home utilities are under my nickname, not my nunnery name (peace be with you, my child) and apparently, it was too much of a stretch to connect the dots between "Elizabeth" and "Beth".

Then, my birthdate was cut off the copy of my driver's license that was sent over. Then, there was something else.

While waiting for the bank to decide if they wanted a kidney and my right arm, I went out onto the range behind the dealership to test drive the bike. Within a few minutes, I felt comfortable except for the fact that the bike is a BEAST. Holy crap! I knew that there would be a difference between the small Buell I learned on and the big hog I bought but I was humbled by the difference in weight. I could hear Tim and Trey's voices in my head telling me to "walk with the bike", "practise stopping", "do your figure eight's" and I wished for them to be there to demonstrate like they did before every course exercise. Total student/teacher separation anxiety.

After tooling around on the range for awhile, I rode very slowly through the parking lot and was about to pull into a space when a friend beeped at me. Being the highly skilled rider that I am, I got all flustered and dumped my brand new bike. GAH!!!!

I was fine, the bike was fine and nothing got bruised except for my ego. And let me tell you right now. I will be practising getting that bike up off the ground over and over and over from the safe confines of my garage because I think that the odds are pretty good that I'll dump it again before it's all said and done. This is not negative thinking..just a smack of reality and the last thing I want is to be stuck somewhere.

Well, late last night, after promising my first born grandchild, my sales guy called to tell me that we were square and I could sign the documents today. A friend of mine is going to ride it home for me and this weekend, I'm meeting a classmate out at the range to practise. Someday soon, when I'm all grown up, I'll be able to ride on the streets like the big kids. For now, though, I'm content to walk the beast through the undeveloped portions of my neighbourhood and learn how to become one with the hog.