On June 4, a minivan driver rear-ended my Softail Custom...an event duly documented earlier this month in Southern Comfort. It's been almost 2 weeks and this is how things have gone:
June 6th, the guy that hit me admitted fault, so there was no BS about who did what to who.
On June 7th, I trailered the bike to Patriot Harley Davidson, turning it over to the powers-that-be for a damage estimate by both GEICO and Patriot's tech guy that handles insurance work.
June 8th, the GEICO guy took a look at it, finding things I never thought about. For example, he found some damage (a crack!) to the primary cover, in addition to the turn signals, etc. He also authorized inspection for rear wheel alignment and bent wheel/suspension bits.
It wasn't included, so I appealed for a new rear tire, which really absorbed the bulk of the impact. For all anyone knew, the sidewalls could have sustained damage that might not show up until I'm on a hairpin turn of a narrow road winding around a sheer mountainside. For some reason, that bothers me. A lot.
And a few days later on June 13th, Patriot had their look. Even more damage was suspected, which effectively blew July's Southern Comfort II ride right out of the water, or at least the July 1 departure date. This is due to time needed to resolve differences in damage estimates (BIG difference!), and the lead time for ordering parts. If tin gets replaced, and it might, it needs the 105th Anniversary custom paint scheme...nothing that's going to be on the shelf.
Sure, I've got a second bike, but there's the simple fact that I can't....DEFINITELY CAN'T.....ride the Joker bike (a bar-hopper) for a couple thousand miles.
Bottom line: Southern Comfort II has now been rescheduled, tentatively, for August 13th, immediately after East Coast Motorcycle Rally (East Coast Sturgis). I'll roll out of Western Maryland, making a run west, north or south, but definitely not east.
I'm totally bummed about postponing the vacation, but at least I wasn't hurt in the accident, nor was anyone else. And having a few shiny new parts, plus a thorough going-over, also isn't the worst thing that could happen to the FXSTC. I'm just trying to stay patient while the insurance adjuster and the Harley tech guy sort out their differences and work can get started.
Cowboy
PS I didn't use the words FUCK, FUCKING, FUCKHEAD, or MOTHERFUCKER even once in this whole post. Pretty good, huh? Working on those social skills...little by little. Never know when one of those society Dames is going to come along......
