By 1976, I was riding a real motorcycle.  The Honda CB 750 took America by storm and forever changed the motorcycle industry and the buying public's perception of motorcycles. Now folks, do not let the sophisticated riding outfits fool you.  I had no clue as to what I was doing. I was simple having fun and trying to look cool doing it.  The second photo is of me and the misses in Colorado, our first big tour on this motorcycle.  Old saying, "God looks after children, animals and idiots."  In my case, I think it was my wife He was looking out for.  The good news is, I learn with each ride, and I learned a heck-of-a-lot from that ride.  So, like the line from the song Copperhead Road, I came home with a brand-new plan.

Released in 1975 this bad boy completely and totally redefined touring.  It would set the stranded for touring motorcycles for the next 40 years and pretty much had little in the way of competition until BMW released the K1600 in 2011.  The little trailer is of course homemade.  It was after all 1979.  After market motorcycle stuff of any serious consequence was several years away.  

The photo on right is my wife and we are in Silverton, Colorado in 1980 on our way to California.  

I would later own a:

This was my favorite Goldwing.  It was the perfect size, would cruise at 80 with ease and performed well in the mountains.  I had this until 2014.   The only reason I traded was because it was getting incredibly difficult to get parts, and the ones on Ebay often looked worse than the part I was replacing.  I also wanted something with a little less maintenance. I would have kept the bike, but I had no room to keep more than one motorcycle.  To this day, I miss that bike.                             

I will confess.  With Honda's six-cylinder engine, this thing is blast to ride.  And before you say anything, I am old school.  I don't need GPS, stereo, 6 different performance modes and so on.  And I love packing and strapping luggage to my motorcycle.  It is all about the process.  However, it is 2023 as I type this, I am 67.  There is a DCT model Goldwing in my future. But in the meantime, I plan to ride this like my hair is on fire.