With her imminent graduation from collage, Bradley once again decided to spoil his daughter Taylor.
He likes to remind me that she is only spoiled because she is an only child. (whatever excuse you need to sleep at night.)
To be fair there is a lot more to the story, but after all is said and done, she owns a Harley Heritage Softail.
However, there was a need to transport the bike from dads house, to daughters house, which is where this story begins.
We arranged to meet at Brad's house and make a ride out of it. Around 9:00 I was ready to head out.
Before leaving town, I ran down to Primeland and topped off the tank. As this trip was all about Bradley's little girl, I thought Paul Simon's Father and Daughter was appropriate. (see 39s video clip arriving at primeland)
My expected arrival time was somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30. However, Brad had messaged me asking about tools, so I arrived a bit early with tools in trunk. The plan was to remove the sissy bar from the softail, but he didn't have the right size T Star driver. I did have the correct size tool, so we spent a little time removing the sissy bar. This did entail removing the saddle bags and then putting them back on afterwards.
Once everyone was ready and accounted for, we mounted up. Brad and Shelly on the Road King. Taylor on the Softail. And me on the Freewheeler. (I won the fight with myself, there will be no cheesy Harley rhyme.)
We pulled into Moscow and stopped at Primeland to fuel up.
Then, we headed north, taking the back roads towards the Spokane Valley.
We made a short stop in Oakesdale at the park for a rest and some water.
As for the picture... No, I am not making an odd gesture, or making up dance moves.
I'm just putting on my jacket as we were getting ready to leave.
Entering the valley, we turned right onto Sprague and then onto Appleway. As we were driving there were some emergency service vehicles that came by. Then we came upon the accident. It appeared from what I could see, that a vehicle turned into the path of an oncoming motorcycle. Having been there, it was not a pleasent site to see.
Everyone, meet Taylor
Once all purchases were finalized, we suited up and headed for Cheney. On sunset boulevard as we approached a split in the road where sunset continues over a bridge, we dropped off down S Inland Empire way. Soon there after, we took a right off that, and made our way around a couple blocks, essentially turning around to go back.
Oh, by the way... If there is enough gravel on the road and you give just enough throttle through the corner, you can catch a little fish tail.
Anyway, we headed back to sunset boulevard and got back on our way. We soon arrived at Brads condo, where his daughter lives. We dropped off some of Taylors items and were about ready to go out to eat, when...
We tried a couple things, including Brad trying to push start it. Followed by Brad having Taylor help him try to push start it. Giving up on that idea, they pushed it close to the house and we plugged it in. Instead of going out to eat, pizza was ordered while we let the battery try to charge.
After eating and chatting, we tried the bike again, to no avail. I then harassed Brad, once again, about the fact that he has never taken his seat off, as I proceed to remove my seat for the umpteenth time. We attempted to jump it, be that battery said, I'm dead and you ain't going to bring me back. So, a couple calls were made and we found a place just around the corner that had a battery that would fit. We took out the bad battery and Taylor drove me over and I purchased the new one. Once installed, the bike started right up.
With that resolved, it was time for the Adults and I to head back home and leave Taylor to her own devices. Good bye's were said and we mounted our might steeds and started away.
Oh, by the way... With just the right amount of curve to the road, and enough throttle, providing enough centrifugal force, you can chirp the inside rear tire.
Leaving Cheney, we took the Cheney Spangle road and then onto the old US-195 until we were forced onto the new US-195. We stopped at the Horn School Rest Area south of Rosalia. We gave ourselves a little while before climbing back on board for the last stretch. Brad turned off at the Pullman turn off and I continued on US-195 into Lewiston.
For the Anderson King (Road King) a 226.7 mile trip. For the Nelson Wheeler a 270 ish mile trip. It became clear I'm out of practice, as the soreness set in, but it was an enjoyable ride.
Thank you Brad, for inviting me along.
