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	While going through my assorted pictures and trying to organize them (yeah, riiiigght!); I ran across a picture of my first bike. I then thought how unfair it was to have pictures of our other larger bikes and ignore the very first one, especially for our web site. To tell the truth, I have some very fond memories of that bike (as I am sure we all do with our first bike) and here is the place to mention a bit about "Flaming Phoenix".
The name is very appropriate for this bike besides its red color. Let me first mention that Digger, thank goodness, was around to help me through those early months of riding. (That and the Lord's "protective wing") In some ways it was fortunate that Tim was riding ahead of me when I had my first major spill. The bike bore the worst of it and all I got was scratches. (Due to proper riding gear). Although it isn't fun to mention that the bike and I have been through a couple of spills, I was fortunate enough to be able to "ride" (or is that coax?) the bike home everytime. For myself, I usually got hopping mad that any spill happened in the first place and as the "rule" goes, you just have to get back on and ride. So get back on and ride I did. The bike received needed repairs, was in great shape again after the spills, and hence, the name of "Flaming Phoenix".

The first group outting I went on with "Flaming Phoenix" was to the Cherohala Skyway run in October of '98 and I had only been riding for the better part of three months. I really got introduced to mountain riding the next day. It was cloudy, to the point of being so foggy that all anyone could do was follow the yellow line and hope upon hope that no one was going to come up behind them too fast. Not only that but our group got split up and I was leading at one point until the next rest stop. No site seeing that trip until we got below the clouds on the other side of the pass. I was happy that I didn't do too bad with the curves and was even able to keep up with the group. It was a very fun and exciting trip for me. I also got introduced to cold weather with that bike. Digger and I ride our bikes to and from work whenever possible and layering warm clothes under my leathers was definately in order. Through the winter, on into summer, soon I had thoughts of how to really spiff up "Flaming Phoenix" now that my riding skills were improving. Trouble was, there wasn't much else I could add on to the bike than what I already had on it. As the seventh month rolled around Digger decided to turn in "Blue Thunder" (the 1500A) for the Drifter. It wasn't long before I got on the Drifter and discovered that that bike was smooth and handled corners very well. This, of course, meant that I was ready for a larger bike. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later I said "goodbye" to my faithful 500 LTD and "hello" to the 800 Classic. I will admit that every once and a while I miss the 500 LTD and think that it would be fun to get on and ride it for nostalga's sake. The rest is history written elsewhere on this site.