A Sad Goodbye

As most people know, I have had a motorcycle since the summer of 2008. It was a beautiful 2005 Honda Shadow 600.

It's name was The Baby Bullet.

Between myself, Linden, and Jul, we drove that bike and my car out to Wyoming in August of 2008. Since then, I had ridden it a decent amount. I would take it to work, I'd take it to school, and I even took it on a few long trips.

In the summer of 2009, my friend Meja and I somehow got invited to join a Poker Run to Deadwood, South Dakota.

We got to see Deadwood, of course, but also Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Sturgis.

Didn't we fit right in? This was just after riding thru a hail storm and we had finally found a place to pull off and wait it out. The poor guys with no helmets kinda suffered in that one.

Other trips I did were shorter and just for fun, such as going to Colorado to see Katie and Luke when they were out with the Youth Group for a convention. Or to a car dealership that had sent me a letter saying I had won something and to go pick it up. (That was a joke - they didn't give me anything!) And I also just rode it around town. Over the course of years, I have also given several friends rides on it.

When Meja graduated, we rode the bike to Olive Garden while she was still wearing her cap and gown! Mike, the guy in the middle, also got a few rides on the bike over the years.

I don't remember the occasion, but Justin and I once took the bike somewhere. Out to eat, maybe?

My friend Katie went with me to get ice cream one summer night.

I don't remember for sure, but I would be surprised if I didn't take JonahMac on a ride at some point during our college days.

Oddly enough, I don't ever remember taking Brittany for a ride, even though we lived together for a year!

Another person that missed out was this dear man. For some reason he is scared of vehicles with two wheels, motored or not motored.

And while I'm sure there are other folks that got taken for rides, I don't remember them all. I do know that Gunther never got to go on a ride.

I have lots of fun memories with my motorcycle and I really did love it. When I went to move to Australia in 2011, I decided to sell it. I listed it for sale, but never got any takers. And after a while, I just couldn't part with it, so I didn't try to sell it anymore. After coming back from Australia and riding it around town a little bit, I really couldn't part with it then. So even though I never rode it anymore in 2012, I still kept it. By 2013, it was starting to need some maintenance. The front tire was completely bald, the registration had run out, and the battery was dead. So again, I didn't ride it that year at all, but I didn't want to sell it.

2014 came along, and I came to the conclusion that my dear motorcycle needed a new home with someone that was going to take care of it and enjoy it. I decided that since all of my friends are gone, Jason will never ride with me, and Gunther is to big to fit on the back seat, why am I just letting it sit and deteriorate? So I once again listed it for sale. And as of today, the Baby Bullet has gone on to a new home in Nebraska.

I thought it was going to be really hard to get rid of it. While it was sitting for sale, every few days I'd drive it around the block. I told Jason that he wasn't supposed to let me back out of it this time. But then he left for the weekend leaving me alone to show it to folks and try to sell it. Thankfully, a nice older man came to buy it, and just seeing how excited he was to have a nice bike made me feel better. He had ridden motorcycle for many years with his wife, but had to give it up a while ago for family reasons. But, now he is getting ready to retire and wants to get back into it. He and his wife were both really excited about it and that made it a little easier. I watched them load up the Baby Bullet and drive away and didn't shed a tear or feel to much sadness. But then about 30 minutes later, I went out to the garage to get something and I opened the door and the garage was empty. There was no motorcycle. That's when it became a sad goodbye.

I have decided that if I ever get another motorcycle, it will have a sidecar. I will purchase some doggie goggles and Gunther and I will ride around together. I don't think it will be as special a bike as the Baby Bullet, but someone else is enjoying it now and taking better care of it than I was.

But it's still a sad goodbye.