Getting the bike you lusted for 18 years later

So, I had a Honda Shadow 750.  Great bike.  Awesome bike.  Loved it like a baby, and that bike has been all over Virginia and Mississippi.  And parts of Utah.

Utah is where the problems started.  See, a 750 might be a big sport bike, but it's a small cruiser, and at interstate speeds it'll vibrate you to death.  And while I could cover every inch of the states back East and never once touch an interstate, in Utah there are huge stretches of territory that are only interstate roads.

So my Honda Shadow, which took the Blue Ridge Parkway like a champ and showed up a lot of bigger bikes, was beating me to death on the interstate.

Sad.

Not only that, but due to the mountains we have in Utah (as compared to the much smaller hills back East) the bike was struggling to climb with two riders on it.

So, as of yesterday, my bike, which I lovingly cared for and gave all the best oils and accoutrements, was traded in to a very nice shop which will make sure it's passed on to someone else who loves it as much as I did.  And I rode away on a 2002 Honda VTX 1800.  14k miles on the odometer.  Never been dropped.

Yeah, that bike took the wife and I over Parley's Summit and didn't even grunt.  7000 feet up at 80 mph?  Vroom vroom.

So now I have to go make sure I have all the right oil, so I can take care of this bike like I took care of the last one.

Yee haw!