BRADFORDBENN
Slowpoke & Proud of It!
So I had to go from South Bend, IN to Martinsville, IN (200 miles each way) for a business meeting. I left on Tuesday night since I had to be there at 8:30AM Wednesday. As documented in the Question/Comments thread. It was an interesting morning.
Parked in a visitor spot, got off took off the 'stich. Laid the 'stich on the ground, sat on it and changed out of the boots to work shoes. Took laptop bag off of rear seat. Put 'stich in top case. Walked into the lobby with helmet and bag.
Receptionist said, "I am sorry sir, but we may manufacture the radios here, but we do not service them." (Harman International, the parent company of my employer, manufactures the "infotainment" systems for Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Porsche vehicles among others)
Okay, so I was scratching my head. "No, you don't understand, I am here to meet with Tom.... "
"Oh in that case you want to park around back at the entrance to the testing chamber."
still puzzled "No, I have a meeting with Tom and he told me to meet him here at 8:30."
"Sir, I am sorry but all deliveries are at the back."
I am in a dress shirt and dress pants. So I pull out the cell phone and call Tom. He comes down to the lobby to get me
The receptionist then explained that she had never seen any business guests come in on a motorcycle.
"So why did I need to go to the testing chamber?"
"I thought you were bringing a prototype for us to use in testing, because I have never seen a motorcycle like that before. Also the fact that you had coils hanging from the helmet and the suit I thought that it was a new type of testing gear."
We all start laughing.
Came out later in the day, different receptionist and I noticed that there were cones around my bike. So I ask why?
"Well, sir, [why always sir?] I can not tell you about that, I am assuming that if you were allowed to know about the project, you would know why the bike is here."
"Uh, that is my personal motorcycle and there is no project."
"Oh that is embarrassing, Security had never seen a BMW motorcycle before so they figured it was a new project and ..."
What is even funnier about the whole thing is that in the employee parking lot, there is motorcycle only section of the lot complete with a metal plate for the kickstands.
Next time I think I am going to tell the receptionist it is a test project and see if I can park inside
I give Garth [YB in IN] a call after I am done with my meetings. We decide that I will head down to his house and decided what to do from there. Unfortunately I also ended up leaving the parking lot at shift change, so I got to ride out of town with about 600 of my coworkers.
When I showed up at GarthÔÇÖs I was amazed to see that he actually exists, and I got to see that he really does have a girlfriend. We make a little small talk, and then after I said I wanted to head north about 6PM Garth comes up with a ride. The ride was fairly spirited, but not unsafe. Garth can ride the heck out of his K75, I only crossed the yellow line once.
I was amazed that not only did Garth find hills, he also found curves.
So then we had a talk in the parking lot of the Brown County Animal Shelter. We had some interesting looks from passerbyÔÇÖs I am not quite sure what or why the one girl/woman was hollering at us. Then it was time to head back north. Yup, I would make the 3 hour detour again. So now Garth sez he is going to put together another ride soon. Assuming Lorezapam can get out on bail, it will be a good time.
The overall track for the two days:
Parked in a visitor spot, got off took off the 'stich. Laid the 'stich on the ground, sat on it and changed out of the boots to work shoes. Took laptop bag off of rear seat. Put 'stich in top case. Walked into the lobby with helmet and bag.
Receptionist said, "I am sorry sir, but we may manufacture the radios here, but we do not service them." (Harman International, the parent company of my employer, manufactures the "infotainment" systems for Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Porsche vehicles among others)
Okay, so I was scratching my head. "No, you don't understand, I am here to meet with Tom.... "
"Oh in that case you want to park around back at the entrance to the testing chamber."
still puzzled "No, I have a meeting with Tom and he told me to meet him here at 8:30."
"Sir, I am sorry but all deliveries are at the back."
I am in a dress shirt and dress pants. So I pull out the cell phone and call Tom. He comes down to the lobby to get me
The receptionist then explained that she had never seen any business guests come in on a motorcycle.
"So why did I need to go to the testing chamber?"
"I thought you were bringing a prototype for us to use in testing, because I have never seen a motorcycle like that before. Also the fact that you had coils hanging from the helmet and the suit I thought that it was a new type of testing gear."
We all start laughing.
Came out later in the day, different receptionist and I noticed that there were cones around my bike. So I ask why?
"Well, sir, [why always sir?] I can not tell you about that, I am assuming that if you were allowed to know about the project, you would know why the bike is here."
"Uh, that is my personal motorcycle and there is no project."
"Oh that is embarrassing, Security had never seen a BMW motorcycle before so they figured it was a new project and ..."
What is even funnier about the whole thing is that in the employee parking lot, there is motorcycle only section of the lot complete with a metal plate for the kickstands.
Next time I think I am going to tell the receptionist it is a test project and see if I can park inside
I give Garth [YB in IN] a call after I am done with my meetings. We decide that I will head down to his house and decided what to do from there. Unfortunately I also ended up leaving the parking lot at shift change, so I got to ride out of town with about 600 of my coworkers.
When I showed up at GarthÔÇÖs I was amazed to see that he actually exists, and I got to see that he really does have a girlfriend. We make a little small talk, and then after I said I wanted to head north about 6PM Garth comes up with a ride. The ride was fairly spirited, but not unsafe. Garth can ride the heck out of his K75, I only crossed the yellow line once.
I was amazed that not only did Garth find hills, he also found curves.
So then we had a talk in the parking lot of the Brown County Animal Shelter. We had some interesting looks from passerbyÔÇÖs I am not quite sure what or why the one girl/woman was hollering at us. Then it was time to head back north. Yup, I would make the 3 hour detour again. So now Garth sez he is going to put together another ride soon. Assuming Lorezapam can get out on bail, it will be a good time.
The overall track for the two days:
If you can convince him to come home to Wabash some weekend and meet us there, we could show you where we ride in Wabash and Miami countys.
BE in IN
My girlfriend and I ended up eating at Maldonaldo's in Nashville. It was some pretty good Mexican eating.
