Maggie's Story

It’s such a girl thing to name a Harley I suppose.

None-the-less it just seemed the right thing to do.

I wasn’t looking to spend $16,000 that day when Dave & I walked into the Harley dealership, in fact I’m one of the “thriftiest” people I know, but there she was front & center all dressed out in massive amounts of chrome & black leather. 

I SWEAR I heard a voice say…”Hi, my name is Maggie.  I’ve been waiting for you.”

And so it began …. Maggie and Me on a 5 ½ year road trip.

Now I won’t go on an epic tangent here about every mile and/or experience we shared because those of you who ride or ridden “get it” but to those of you who haven’t been “called” to the experience I’ll try to condense a novel full of emotion into a few paragraphs.

Learning to ride 725 pounds of machinery is no small task for a 130 pounder but my tenacious nature stepped up, David’s extreme patience stood beside me and slowly Maggie and Me learned to dance in-step.  I have a scar or two and Maggie has some scratched chrome as evidence of the learning curve but 17,000 miles later we wear them all with pride. 

Out of dozens, I’m going to share 2 Maggie and Me moments that will forever be with me.

Dave & I were somewhere in mid Arizona, near the New Mexico border, on the return trip from a group ride we’d taken to Colorado.   It was a warm late June afternoon, sunshine gradually being overtaken by rolling monsoon rain clouds.  On a long empty road on Reservation Land, just us, the wind, the sun being challenged by summer storms and open Arizona landscape for as far as the eye can see.  For a moment the 2 most brilliant sun dogs I’ve ever witnessed graced opposing sides of the sun.  We just beat the rain to a motel that day. 

I have no idea where we were in Idaho, just that our return trip from Northern Montana through Yellowstone had been modified because of predictions of snow in the park.  Again, miles of open empty road leading to distant mountains, surrounded by acres and acres of wild sage.  A late summer rain had preceded us and the air was drenched with the scent of warm, wet wild sage. 

The only way I can think of to describe the feeling of each experience is this……

If one could touch the Face of God …. It would feel like that.

Fast forward to the decision to sell the bikes and I won’t get into the reasoning just that it’s time to switch gears & I’m OK with that. 

You may think I’m loopy but I made sure I “released” any mental/emotional resistance I may be hanging onto concerning the sale.  I’ve come to believe that the mind rules all things and if your mind isn’t traveling the same road as your physical “self” nothing goes as planned!

Bikes were listed for sale for a week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks and more and no legit responses. 

I dropped my price twice, still no bites.

Then a thought occurred to me that perhaps me being at peace parting with Maggie wasn't enough...perhaps she needed to know it was OK also....so.....I wrote this down in the journal entry below:

“March 1, 2014

Now if I could just get Maggie sold my “material” side could rest. 

It occurred to me that maybe Maggie is waiting for permission to be released.  I know I’m a bit loopy but hey….don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.

So both mentally and now via writing I am whole-heartedly and lovingly giving Maggie permission to roll on to another owner ASAP…….

And so it is…….”

Maggie sold 3 days later to the perfect couple who were thrilled to have her.

Maggie and Me touched the Face of God one more time as we parted yesterday and even though the empty space next to the motorhome brought a tear to my eye this morning I know we both have many, many, many rides before us in ways we haven’t even yet begun to imagine.

And so it is…..