The
Squamidian Report – Jan. 30 / 10
Issue #401
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I want to thank everyone, last weeks #400 was the best Squamidian EVER. It’s always great to have contributions to include in the newsletter. So feel free to contribute as often as you like. It makes it that much better and more fun for everyone.
And now, I know that I’ve done lots of things throughout my life that have made many people wonder both silently and out loud about the state of my mental faculties. Heck, I’ve done some things that have left me wondering about the state of those same mental faculties. Well, guess what? I’ve done it again and I’ve left myself wondering again. You’ll never guess in a thousand years what it is that I’ve done so I’ll save you all sorts of speculation and exasperation. I’ve gone and traded in my beloved pride and joy, my ’07 Harley Davidson. I can hear the shock and disbelief reverberate across the country. “What is this nut thinking?” you are asking yourself.
Well, I’ve asked myself that same question and I end up replying with some pretty good reasons and some pretty stupid reasons. The biggest of the stupid reasons is that I have had way too much time off work this winter due to everything from the weather to the economy to local disruptions caused by Olympic preparations. And face it, idle hands get into mischief and I’m a master of getting into mischief. I could fill in lots of other stupid reasons but I’ll leave that for your enjoyment.
So I guess I have to tell you WHAT I’ve traded it on before any good reasons would make sense. I’ve gone and traded my pride and joy on a new ’09 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic. Yes, that’s ’09, not 2010. Harley still has whole warehouses sitting full of ‘09s that never sold due to the economy. The 2010s are out and available for purchase but the dealers don’t even want to talk about them until they move all those ‘09s. And to move those ‘09s they have some pretty compelling incentives. As well, late model used Harleys in mint condition sell quickly and fetch top dollar. The dealers WANT those used bikes and they WANT to move the ‘09s and the result is a ‘perfect storm’ situation for someone like me. To that end the dealer has offered me a high enough trade value that I simply couldn’t refuse.
There are other good reasons once the attractive trade value has been acknowledged. Several technical upgrades took place when the ‘08s came out and then several more were implemented with the ’09 model year. There are almost no technical differences between the ’09 and ’10. The ’09 has a redesigned stiffer frame and swing arm for better stability. The rear wheel is wider and the front has a larger diameter, and the suspension has been redesigned for an even smoother ride. This bike has ABS brakes that were not even available on my ’07. The brakes are still independently controlled. It also has cruise control and a full security system. That’s one thing my old bike has, a full security system and I really like it. Not only does the system immobilize the engine but if you try to move the bike a very loud siren blows your eardrums out. And one more thing, my old bike was black, this bike is blue. Black shows the dirt way too well.
I’m keeping some of the goodies that I had installed on the old bike but not all. The short custom windshield and the chrome trim stay with me. The rider backrest stays with me and the air deflector wings stay and me. I’m leaving my custom grips and highway pegs on the old bike. Can’t remove the grips and removing the pegs would leave marks on the engine guards. All the stuff I’m keeping will go onto the new machine. The ’09 has a luggage rack similar to the one on the ’07 and it has a Stage-1 upgrade for more power and loudness. And face it, when it comes to the good old American Iron - Harley Davidson type of motorcycles, we do like our loudness.
Now to be clear, I don’t actually HAVE the new bike yet and the dealer does not have my old bike yet. So far it is just a paperwork thing. I will not ride my bike from Squamish to Langley at this time of year and I will not ride a new bike back. It is not that it isn’t warm enough but that the roads and the highway up this way are covered with salt and sand. We haven’t had any winter but they still keep spreading sand, and sand on top of asphalt is very slippery for two wheeled vehicles. So at some point they will load up the new bike and deliver it. They will then load up the old bike and take it back with them. I won’t have the enjoyment of ‘bringing the Harley home’ but I will have the fun of taking it out on its first run from here instead of through Lower Mainland traffic. Once the new bike is here I’ll also have to endure the aggravation of seeing it sit in the back of my garage while I wait for riding season. I’m in no real hurry for all this to happen because lets face it, the sooner the new bike doesn’t come, the sooner I don’t have to pay for it.
doug
****
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, the big day is finally here. It’s Thursday evening and we’re all set for the big send off in the morning. I’ll be loading all of the cases, carpet bags etc into the Jeep first thing and then we’ll be on the road by around 10am. We’re going to take our time and arrive in Florida on Monday morning. We don’t get possession of the condo until Monday anyway so we figured we’d just take our sweet time driving down. There’s no convenient airport in the area of Pensacola that flights from Canada fly to on a direct basis. We’d have had to fly into Atlanta and take a smaller flight from there to Pensacola and there would be an eight-hour stopover in Atlanta. We didn’t want to go through that so flying wasn’t an option we were willing to choose. It’s more fun for us to drive. I’ve always liked driving anyway so as long as we don’t have to cross any oceans to get where we’re headed, we’ll drive! I’m going to take my kites along so I can do my usual thing on the beach. It’ll be interesting to see if I get any response from people that might find one of my kites down in the southern States. I’ll be sure to have my e-mail address on any that I fly on the Gulf shore. If I have room, I just might take my 3+mile reel of line along so I can really get them nicely aloft before cutting them loose. After all, they’ll have to clear a large body of water depending on which way the wind is blowing on that particular day. Who knows, I might just be getting an e-mail from Mexico some day! LOL!
We’ve got our GPS all set up for the trip as well as instructions from Map Quest printed out and of course the maps we’ve picked up from CAA. If we get lost on the way down with all these aids we’ll deserve what we get! Hahahhaaaa….! I’m just going to trust the GPS and follow it’s directions exactly to the letter and see where we wind up. I’ll just blame it on Carole if we get lost because she’s the one that entered the coordinates into the GPS. LOL! At least I’ll have the lady on the GPS to talk to if Carole falls asleep during the drive. She usually does a fair bit of catching up on her sleep during these excursions. I bought her one of those horseshoe shaped neck pillows a couple of years ago and it works wonders for being comfortable during a snooze in the car. The seats recline as well so it’s not too hard to get comfy when you’re tired. The total distance to our destination is around 1200 km so we should have no problem making at least 4 to 500km per day. In fact, I think we could even leave on Saturday morning and still make it to Pensacola Beach by Monday morning. However, we’re intending on taking it easy so this’ll give us plenty of time. I got the Jeep tuned up and ready for the drive so I’m anxious to see what kind of mileage we get this time. I had the plugs and air filter changed etc etc and even the tires resealed on the rims to stop them from leaking down slowly. It really makes a difference in the feel of the handling when the tires are all at their proper pressure and the engine is tuned up. I even have new “winter” wipers so our view will be nice and clean. I think I’ll sign off for tonight and hit the hay early.
*
I’d just like to say once again that Last weeks Squamidian was a howling success and you all did a marvelous job of your contributing stories! Thanks again for putting forth a wonderful effort and I look forward to hearing from any and all of you whenever you feel you have something to say!
That’s all for tonight folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week from Florida in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Only 5 more days till “Groundhog Day”.
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.