DAY 59
Week 9
AUSTIN (Texas, USA)
Friday August 18th, 2006
TODAYS MILEAGE – 72 miles or 116 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 7649 miles or 12310 kilometres
Time to ride!!! 
Today I was going to meet a mate of mine Mikayla for lunch and was always going to be cutting it fine for time to get the Harley repaired and on the road in such a short time frame. As it turns out Central Texas Harley had the bike ready for me when I got there. The paperwork took 20 minutes to sort out due to the crediting of the unused starter motor. I personally would have done the billing differently, but the dealer is restricted by the software they are using. No dramas though.
After this episode, I have no hesitation in taking my bike back to Central Texas Harley at anytime should I need more mechanical work in the future - but hopefully not.
This brings to mind a conversation Dash and myself had concerning Harley dealers in general these days. As with any business, you need to maximize your floorspace to return the most on your investment. It seems to us that no matter how big or how nice or how new or how flash the dealerships are, it looks that you're walking through an Asian or Mexican backstreet bazaar. They all have the t-shirts, trinkets and chintzy crap that seem to fill every crack and crevice of the joint. Who the hell needs a Harley Davidson dog bowl or bed spread or dinner plates. Enough of that shit!!!
We trundled over to the Hula Hut for a leisurely 2½ hour lunch. I had the roasted chicken pipeline enchilada that could have fed an Amazon tribe for a month and tasted great. Be warned about the native birds that surround the joint when you're eating out on the deck. They have picked up the habit of dive bombing your dinner plate if you look away from it for two seconds. If it wasn't going to upset the enviro-feminazis I would have impaled a few of them with my fork.
After a quick beer, it was over to pick up the rented 2006 Harley Davison Road King Custom for tomorrows ride with Dash.
I spent the evening baby sitting Matthew (10) and Alyssa (6) so that Dash and Christine could chill a little by going out at dinner together. The question is - would they come home????
Catch ya later.