Henrietta
I ended up staying in Seattle longer than I’d imagined, I thought I might have the bike sorted in a couple of weeks but I was to stay there four. I looked at many and got a good insight into the Harley range, so that when I found the right one, I could go ahead. There were days when I seemed to spend the whole day on buses; I got to know Seattle, the suburbs, the surrounding countryside and the transit system quite well, I was happy to be in a city with some good walks, it was spring time and although cold, there was plenty of sunshine, the snow capped mountains in the distance, made it very picturesque and I spent many an hour exploring. I grew up in a place where there was a pub on every corner and more often than not, one in between; In Seattle, there seems to be a Starbucks every time you turn your head, everyone here must be buzzing around like bee’s searching for pollen. Caffeine isn’t my poison, so Joe’s Bar became my local, at the end of the day I’d usually end up there for a couple of ales. Joes, with happy hour, 7am till noon and 4pm till 7pm was always jumping and full of characters to entertain, Ed who I mentioned before tells me he’s an alcoholic but controls the amount of alcohol he consumes, sometimes with the help of the bar staff. He was on the street but managed to climb up a rung and had a studio apartment and did some volunteer work at the local medical marijuana clinic, he was in trouble with the criminal justice department he told me. “It’s been going on for 2 years now man”, I go see the judge, he tells me, “stop drinking or you will go to jail”, “I’m not a criminal I tell him!” I was on one of my bus days, checking out a Dyna Glyde, which turned out to be a girls bike, now before I get the sexists remarks, it was a girl selling it and it was a very pretty blue, with nice little matching blue bags, she was asking far too much for it and although I half heartedly made a silly offer, It wasn’t the bike for me, I made my way back into town and stopped in at Joes as usual. Ed was there drinking a pint of water, “Carmelita’s cut me off” he says, “had a bit of drama last night and she won’t serve me”. I learned that if Ed has a bit too much, he is prone to get a bit violent, hence the drama with the criminal Justice system. So when some random guy was giving him a hard time, he let fly and Jeremy, a young lad weighing as much as three people and the bouncer of the establishment, had to intervene. Ed was in the bad books but would no doubt charm his way out before the day was over.
There was a Fat Bob on Craig’s list, in Yelm, a place east of Olympia, it had the saddle bags, the sissy bar, the windscreen, all the extras needed for a long trip and I thought I’d found it. After getting up at 5-30am and catching three buses, I got to Wal-Mart’s car park, at the end of the road to nowhere but Yelm, at 10am. I met with one of Washington’s finest young police officers; he wasn’t on duty but was quick to show me his belt with all the hardware, to show me he was honest, I think? I took the bike for a short run around the car park and it almost had me, I was running out of time, I only had about three weeks left on my visa! There was a slight problem; the bike was financed, so the title was in the hands of the bank, “no problem” he said, “you pay me, I pay the bank, when they send me the title in 3 months, I forward it on to you anywhere you wish, you can trust me…I’m a policeman”… I was trusting him, up until this point! I told him I had to look at another and I would be in touch. Three buses later I was back in Joes bar chatting to Bill, an out of work electrician, who had done a stint behind the bar here, “sounds dodgy to me Al, could be a scam, did he show you a badge”? He didn’t show me a badge but when I thought about the ride around the car park, the bike didn’t fit anyway, it was the bags, sissy bar and windscreen that was grabbing me, I dismissed it and had a beer, before heading back to check Craig’s list. I had been looking mostly at bikes with all the extras I needed, as to buy them later could cost me an extra couple of thousand. There was a lowrider that I kept going passed on Craig’s list, it was the bike I would eventually buy, I kept going passed it because it was top dollar with no extras. I arranged to see it, it was in Lacey and I’d passed it going to Yelm, up in the hills on a large rural property. Clay, had, had it on the list in spring, for the last couple of years he told me, “if I don’t sell it this year, it will be on the list next year”. He wanted 9500, I offered him 8500, he smiled, “if I don’t sell it this year, it will be on the list next year”, ok 9, a shake of his head told me he was getting impatient. “The price is firm, you want the bike or you don’t”, he said, he knew what he had here, this bike had never seen any weather, only done 1000 miles a year and was looking like it just came off the showroom floor, even had the original pipes, which made it the quietest Harley ever heard. “I would like to buy your bike” I told him, I hadn’t mentioned the title yet but knew before I asked, it would be there and it was, a clear title, an office in Tacoma on the way back to Seattle where I could transfer the paperwork and I was mobile, all I needed now was insurance and I was street legal for all the States of USA.
I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!