It only took four years

Way back in 2005 Greg and I had a motorcycle. It was a Honda Shadow that we bought off of a friend. From that moment on, my husband was bit by the Biker Bug. There was just one teeeny little problem. He didn't exactly have the bike he wanted. What he really wanted was a Harley Davidson. We would go to various bike nights that different bars and restaurants would have and he would practically drool all over the large assortment of Harleys that were always at said events. We lived less than ten minutes away from a Harley Davidson Dealership, so at least once every other week he would drag me there as well so he could continue dreaming and drooling over the gorgeous bikes.

After about a year he finally sold our Honda. There were many reasons why. One being that it was a distraction and he really needed to focus on remodeling our house. But the unspoken reason was because it wasn't a Harley. (For his thirtieth birthday a friend of his gave him a sign to hang up in the garage that read "Harley Parking ONLY". Maybe he felt a bit hypocritical!)

After we sold the bike, I didn't hear about Harley's for awhile. I thought we were in the clear, but apparently I underestimated my husbands obsession. He would drop hints at least once a month that he couldn't wait to one day own a Harley. Driving past a Harley dealership would cause his head to turn so fast it's a miracle he never received whip lash. I honestly cannot even begin to count the number of times that he has parked the car in a dealerships parking lot and practically ran to the front door as I'm bringing up the rear. Then I follow him around for at least an hour as he verrryyyy slllloooowwwwllllyyyyy makes the round, excitedly pointing out different features of this model versus that model as my eyes would eventually glaze over.

Yes, there have been several times when we have almost bought a Harley. But, we all know that they aren't exactly cheap. So the level-headed part of my husband would always prevail and he felt like we were always walking away empty-handed. And every time we would get back into the car, my husband would say, "We will have a Harley someday, you know that, right?" Yes, I did know. I knew that it was not a question of "if" it was always a question of "when".

Last Monday started off as any other Monday. Well, except for the fact that my husband was off work and we were spending a long weekend in Colorado Springs. We planned to visit the Pikes Peak Harley Davidson Dealership for the sole purpose of buying my husbands father a birthday present, since he actually owns a Harley. But of course, this is my husband we are talking about. We couldn't just walk in and go straight to the clothing. No. That would have been like laying a steak in front of a dog and telling the poor thing that he couldn't eat it. We were approached by a sales person and we told him we weren't buying and he didn't need to waste his time. But, of course, the sales person began to show Greg some of the different bikes. Since I knew that this was our usual trip to a Harley Dealership, I went ahead and wandered off to the apparel section of the store. By the time I had returned to my husbands side the damage had already been done.

As I was approaching Greg and Mark, the sales person, I could see the look on my husbands face. You have to know what I'm talking about. His eyes were the size of quarters. His face was a little red. He was shaking his head in disbelief. When I reached them, my husband proceeded to tell me all about the bells and whistles of this particular bike. It was a 2008 Screaming Eagle Dyna 105th Anniversary Edition with only 30 miles on it. Since it was an '08, and it was the last one, the price was drastically reduced so they could move it on out. I could tell by my husbands actions that he wanted it. But I was a little confused and figured he just appreciated the way the bike looked. Basically I was clueless. When I finally managed to drag him away to focus on the "real" task at hand (birthday present) he asked me what I thought. What I told him was that I was confused because all I have ever heard him talk about for the past four years was that he wanted a Road King. I have never heard him utter the word Dyna. That's when he informed me it was because he never thought we would be able to afford the particular bike he was looking at. What I also didn't know is that Screaming Eagle is a package that Harley can put on any bike. The package basically adds all the bells and whistles to a bike that usually Harley owners have to buy afterwards to deck their bike out. Basically it means a lot more chrome and a better paint job. (I'm pretty sure if my husband reads that last sentence I'll get a lecture that it's not just extra chrome and better paint, but you get the idea!)

Now, let me back up a little bit. Since we hadn't planned on buying a motorcycle when we left for our long weekend, we also didn't have means for getting it back to Lamar. Driving it was not an option because it was too cold. We were frantically trying to figure out if my car could have a receiver hitch added to it and if we could buy a trailer to haul it back on the next day. We did find out that my car is going to be able to pull it, but unfortunately we couldn't get it added to my car in time. A guy who also worked at the dealership had just happened to see a motorcycle trailer for sale in a residential area. He gave us directions and we drove there to check it out. It was perfect! Luckily, Greg happens to work with a guy who lives in Colorado Springs, so he agreed to switch us vehicles so we could borrow his truck to pull the bike back to Lamar. It's funny how everything seemed to line up for us and everything worked out. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Especially when I think about all the other times we were thisclose to buying a Harley before. Greg never had quite the twinkle in his eye as he does about this particular bike.

Obviously, we bought the bike! We weren't able to take it with us that night, so of course my husband was like a kid on Christmas Eve. He absolutely could not sleep because he was so excited to pick up the bike the following morning. The icing on the cake was that when we signed the paper work, it showed that the bike was worth way more than we are paying for it. Who would have thought one could buy a motorcycle and have instant equity! Now, I'm sure Suze Orman would not have "approved" us for such a purchase, but when the level headed part of my husband started to peer out from the shadows, he turned to me and said, "I'm leaving the decision up to you." He's done this many times before and I've said no. But I knew that if my husband passed this bike up he would regret it and remind me of it for who knows how long. He works so hard and has wanted one for so long. I knew that our "when" time had arrived.