Jan 28 2010
My brother Roberto and his wife Ivonne visited San Antonio last week. They came running away from the snow and cold from Canada. On Saturday, January 23, we decided to take Goldie out for a ride. The other Robert, Bear Bait’s owner, and friend of mine, offered to lend me his Harley so my brother and I could go on an extended ride outside of the city.
Nov 16 2009
Saturday, November 14th, 2009.
“Hello?”
“Hey, man, get up, get up, get up!!!”
“What time is it? It’s still dark.”
“It’s 6:00 in the morning. We have to meet for breakfast before 7:00 so we can go riding on the bikes before 8!”
“Right, right! Ok, I’ll get up”
Oct 21 2009
A week after Beto and I went to SPI, I ordered Kuryakyn’s part #4073, a set of cruise pegs that are supposed to alleviate my hip cramps and pains.
Oct 14 2009
So the next day we got up early, had breakfast at Judy B’s and headed on out to South Padre Island, or SPI for short, or the Island. We were happy to be riding the “big highway” and at the same speed.
Oct 09 2009
While Robert picked up his motorcycle, I went home to prepare mine for the inaugural ride. We were both excited. Who would have known in the morning that we would be getting ready for a big-bike ride?
Once home, I looked at his bike, complimented him on it, and we decided to take a short ride to Rio Hondo, TX, about 10 miles NE of Harlingen. What a long ride it turned out to be.
Oct 05 2009
The following week, on Saturday, September 19, Robert was visiting me in the Valley for no particular reason. He had the weekend off from obligations so he got in his truck and went to visit. We went out to eat breakfast and engaged in conversation on the topic of motorcycles. He had been talking about trading in his 250 for a bigger engine. He looked at other Hondas, Suzukis, Yamahas, and he liked all of them. He wanted to wait some time to finish paying for his current bike, and then try to get at least a 900 or bigger. His golden dream had always been to own a Harley, so I asked him why not get one. He said he thought he couldn’t afford it and we left it at that. On the way back home, I saw the Harley Davidson dealer in the distance and asked him to take the next exit so we could just go see them and perhaps quiet down his desire to own one.
Oct 04 2009
The next day after my arrival in San Antonio, Robert and I went out on our first trip together as bikers. At the time, Robert had a 250 Honda Rebel that looked like a keychain compared to the Wing. He was very proud of it, and because of that, it made it feel like it was the biggest motorcycle ever built.
Oct 02 2009
The next couple of weeks were somewhat uneventful, taking short trips here and there. The Texas Rio Grande Valley has an intricate road system that resembles the interior of a honeycomb. There are farm roads to ride for a couple of eternities.
Sep 30 2009
A week went by after I got home. Work had started for me and all I could think about was the time I would get to ride on my Wing. Every morning I would go into the garage to look at her and tell her that I would soon take her out of that dark place. Her headlights seemed to look at me yearningly, like chiding me for abandoning her for such a long time.
Sep 29 2009
The end of my summer vacation finally came to an end and I must go back to Harlingen on August 15th. With a truck and a motorcycle to take back home, I need to plan how to get them to the Rio Grande Valley, where I live. First, I’ll take the motorcycle, of course, and then I’ll go back to San Antonio on the bus and recover the truck.
Sep 28 2009
On August 11, bright and early, I went to pick up my purchase. Heather, the finance and insurance director of the Honda dealership, got me an excellent deal on credit, installments, insurance, and everything else I needed to ride the bike out of their garage. Clayton, in the service department, made sure everything was good to go on the bike, and in no time I was out the door feeling for the first time in a while the exhilarating sensation of the wind pressing against my body.
Sep 25 2009
Fast forward to August 2009. After coming back from a three-week Canadian vacation to visit my brother and his family, and almost purchasing my nephew’s 2002 BMW K 1200 RS, I decided it was time to go big. After soul searching for almost two weeks, not to mention 35 years, my friend Beto decided for me that it was time to make my dream of owning a Honda Goldwing come true.
Sep 24 2009
You know how it goes. A dream you had is left behind in the back burner for years until it starts searing and you just have to pay attention to it. Thirty-four years ago, in 1975, when I was 16 years-old, I saw a motorcycle stopping next to my car at a traffic light that called my attention: its sleek lines, its powerful engine, its solid build were hard to dismiss. There was something about that beauty that tugged at my heart and made me feel small in my 1969 VW Beetle.
