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Mr. History
Wants…
By Susan Olling
Some years ago, we went on a factory tour at the Harley-Davidson
assembly plant in York, PA. I thought that Mr. History’s
interest in this type of hog would go no further.
However, one of the toys on Mr. History’s wish list is a
top-of-line Harley. This list also includes a 1930s fire truck,
among other internal-combustion contraptions. I always ask him
where he plans to put all of these things This response has
apparently earned points with Park Police officers. Also know
that the only way I would get on a Harley, unless it was a trike, would
be if I were sedated, blindfolded, and attached somehow.
In mid-to-late June, I apparently took leave of my senses or my evil
twin was in our house, according to Mr. History. I told him
if he wanted a Harley to get one. No, I still have all my senses,
and I’ve seen no evil twin in the neighborhood. There is,
however, a reason for my response. Our minister retired last
October after forty-five years at the same church. His wife
wanted him to retire a while ago, but Rev. Mert wanted to stay in the
pulpit until he was seventy (PCUSA pastors receive a larger pension if
they preach until age seventy.) He didn’t want to out-live his
retirement. Unfortunately, Rev. Mert was diagnosed with cancer a
couple of years ago and died on 13 Jun. That did it. If Mr.
History wanted one of his wish list toys, that was fine with me.
He’s been spending time on the Harley-Davidson website drooling up
bikes, the smaller ones, not the top-of-the-line bikes
(thankfully). In red. He’s also mentioned interest in
learning how to ride one of these things. A few Sunday’s
ago, he drove up to the local Harley dealership in Frederick, MD.
Twenty-five miles away is a most comfortable distance for this place,
in my not-so-humble opinion. It was evidently a busy day up
there what with a riding class and lots of shoppers. Mr. History
was quite surprised to see at least half of the people at the
dealership were women. Some were browsing, some were already
Harley owners. He wasn’t sure if he was being sexist in his
reaction to all those ladies. He saw the bike he’d been
eyeing on the website in pearl (not white) and blue. He went back
to the website when he got home and showed me what the white hot
pearl/blue hot pearl bike looked like. I thought that combination
as well as the brilliant silver and pearl were appealing, but Mr.
History still likes the red. He also showed me what else he
wanted to get on the bike (saddlebags, windshield, etc.).
We looked at the smaller street bikes that Harley-Davidson
manufactures. Oh yes, the Bike Builder feature on the H-D webpage is
fun.
He went up to York a few days ago. There were lots of ladies of
various ages (from twenty-year-olds to “grannies”-his term, not mine)
browsing the “samples”. An elderly gentleman was sitting on
one of the larger bikes and was apparently having a hard time getting
off the thing. Mr. History saw one of the street bikes and
reported that it was very much too small. The tour guide was a
retired school teacher. She wasn’t able to take the group
through the whole plant; the model year change-over was going on.
With her past experience with rowdy school kids in a classroom (aren’t
they all rowdy?), walking adults though the assembly line tour should
be a breeze.
Mr. History’s signed up for a beginner’s riding class in October at the
dealership and brought home the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration’s
(MVA) motorcycle operator manual from the local MVA center.
He’s also taken the on-line course that Harley-Davidson
provides. He passed, but he’ll have to take it again closer
to the October class.
The fun will continue as he shops for the motorcycle “accessories”.
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