Financing the mast pull (aka - selling the Harley)

My old 2002 Softail Deuce

Howdy Folks,

Kara and I spent yet another weekend away from Vela.  That's two in a row now and if we're going to ever get her ready to go, we can't afford too many streaks like that.  Particularly when you consider we'll likely miss next weekend too, so we can move some stuff into our little condo.  Our renters moved out this weekend. 

Cleaned up and ready for a new home

We had originally planned to go down to Houston and work on a few things this weekend.  Replacing a few aged hose clamps and drying out the bilge, now that we've repacked the stuffing box.  But those plans changed when I got a call last week from an actual person that was interested in buying my old Harley.  I've had it listed on Craigslist for sometime and if you've ever tried to sell anything of value on CL, you know it's full of scammers.  "Hi sir, is your Motorcycle still for sale?  I'm traveling for the military right now and visiting my sick aunt in Tawain but I'd like to send you payment via PayPal plus $700 for your trouble, and then of course shipping fees to get it to me".  So it was refreshing to talk with someone who was actually interested in an honest transaction.  This guy was driving in from Colorado to buy the bike and was bringing cash, so we knew he was serious.  We cancelled our Houston trip, rounded up all the paperwork, cleaned up the bike and then sold it early yesterday morning early.

New owner loading the bike up.

I have mixed feelings on the sale, I loved that bike but the cash we got for it will completely cover a big project we have scheduled for May.  While we're waiting on the new arch to be completed, allegedly sometime in 2016...we've decided to pull the mast to install our radar.  Surprisingly, it's cheaper to pull the mast and install the radar and associated conduit while the mast is down, than it would be to add the conduit with the mast up.  This will also allow us to replace all our masthead instrumentation, antennas, add a Windex and likely a TV antenna.  While it's down, we'll also be adding a whisker pole, track, mast mount and associated rigging.  All those extras add up pretty quick and let's just say that the bike sold at a great time.  While I'll definitely miss the bike, I've always known I'd be selling it to finance 'the dream' and it's really nice having the cash in hand to cover another project without impacting our efforts on beefing up the cruising kitty (investment account) at the highest rate possible.

Kara and I have been talking a lot this weekend about our little dream and how it's starting to take shape.  It's still overwhelming and a bit terrifying to consider the fact that we're a year away from our planned departure date from the working world...it's also very VERY exciting.  Still, we have a lot to do between now and then. 

• Sell our lake house (currently on the market)
• Move to Condo
• Remodel condo bathroom to increase rental value
• Move from condo in Austin aboard Vela in Houston
• Quit two great jobs (talk about an oh-shit moment)
• Begin our slow migration to...wherever

So it's been a good weekend, but we really need to start knocking off some of these major projects.  For now I'm trying to focus on the fact that we can now pay for at least 1 more of them, and once again....that's a win in my book.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hope the new owner loves this bike as much as I did.