Saturday, July 26, 2008

Oreos and Motorcycles


There is a Harley Davidson dealership in northern Phoenix known as Buddy Stubbs Harley Davidson. Buddy grew up racing motorcycles in the 50's and 60's. At his dealership, he also houses a motorcycle museum with about 150 vintage motorcycles of all kinds from all over the world. I knew he offered tours on the last Saturday of every month - today fell into that category.
I decided to ride up there today and check things out.
When I arrived, they were having some kind of event (fairly typical for a HD dealership on any given weekend). After asking where I might find a bottle of water, I ended up in a room with tables of food. There was ham, turkey, beef, cheese,. chips and cookies. Two large coolers were filled with cold soda and bottled water. I had to ask if this was all for some local group. "Nope. It's for anybody and it's free. Help yourself."
I accepted that invitation.
An observation I'd like to make at this point may not make sense to everyone, but here it is anyway.
When you are giving away all this free food to a bunch of bikers - who cares what brand of chips you buy, or what kind of cookies you put on the table? Or if you put any cookies out at all?

The chips were genuine Ruffles. The cookies were genuine Oreos.

I like the fact that when given an opportunity to skimp by buying cheap chips and knock-off Oreos, they didn't.

Sometimes, it's refreshing to find someone willing to spend a little extra for the real thing - even if they are just giving it away.

I was also able to tour the museum, with Buddy Stubbs as the guide. It was fascinating to hear his stories about the history behind some of the cycles.

So, all in all, it was very enjoyable. I got to meet the real Buddy Stubbs, see some authentic vintage motorcycles, eat authentic Ruffles and authentic Oreo cookies.

And it didn't cost me a dime.

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