Sunday, October 18, 2015

Appleton Harley Davidson

 A few weeks ago I got an invite in the mail. I lost it so I don't remember the official title of the event but I can tell you it was some kind of customer appreciation party at Appleton HD. It wasn't a "bike" event but it seemed appropriate to brave the cold and ride up there. I arrived to find the parking lot full of cages and only two other bikes there. Whatever. I guess I didn't expect to see a lot of other bikes when the temps were in the forties.
 As I walked into the dealership the first thing I noticed was the lack of bikes. They cleared the sales floor and had half of it set up for feeding and half set up like a casino. Of course they still had all of the clothing available and I had kinda thought about buying a sweatshirt but I really had a different purchase in mind so I wandered over to the parts counter. They were offering a percentage off parts that night so I took this opportunity to pick up some different handlebars for the Ultra. See, I'm getting comfortable with the bike but I'm not completely comfortable sitting on it. These bars will move the grips two inches closer to me so my arms won't be stretched straight out while sitting upright. This position will mimic the Kawasaki Voyager that I put over seventy thousand miles on and did a bunch of Iron Butt rides on also.
 The food was next. A generous buffet style offering that included a smoked turkey that was delicious.  
 After filling my stomach I sat down and played some black jack. The deal was that the big winner at each table got their name put in a hat and they drew three names from those to receive some prizes.

 I did quite well, starting out with $5000 of funny money and finishing with over $300,000. That made me the big winner at our table but my name wasn't drawn for any of the prizes. No matter, I had a good time. Thanks to the crew over there for putting on a nice party. It would have been nicer if my wife could have made the trip but she was feeling a bit under the weather. She wisely chose to stay home and get some rest.
 The late night hour ride home was dark, chilly and a bit challenging. The lighting on the Ultra is pretty decent and gave me confidence looking for deer while I dealt with the cold. The wind protection is ok except frigid air sneaks below the fairing and above the radiator pods. This hits my knees with a wintery blast. It's not the worst thing but I do need to remember to stretch my leg out and make sure it still works before coming to a stop.
 So there you have it. That was my Saturday night. What did you do?

No comments:

Post a Comment