Featured Rideout Chili, Dogs, Fat Boys, And Hogs

I had some business to attend to (code for "buy motorcycle stuff") at our local H-D dealership yesterday and coincidentally it was also the annual H.O.G. Chili CookOff. HOG in this case stand for Harley Owners Group. So off I rode on El Gordo to run my errand and to sample some homemade chili. Temperatures were in the high 50sºF--nice and brisk and just the weather for some spicy food.






I arrived at the dealership around 11:15am shortly after the chili had been set out to sample. There were about a dozen entries and both customers and dealership employees could vote for their favorites. There were quite a few people when I got there but over the next hour, a lot more people rode in and the parking lot was filled with more bikes than I've seen there in quite awhile. Food does bring folks out--especially FREE food!


There were two rows of tables that held slow cookers filled with chili. The whole dealership smelled divine!


After scanning the options, I honed in on this woman's chili. She had it entered in the No Meat category but you certainly couldn't tell from the taste that it was meatless! It was the "Ancho and New Mexico Chilis" that lured me to her slow cooker. I absolutely love roasted New Mexico chilis. Thankfully the underlined word "Vegan" didn't put me off because this was some dang good chili! It won my vote, that's for sure. For those of you who aren't familiar with chorizo, it's highly seasoned (read "spicy") ground pork sausage. She told me that she found a plant-based version of chorizo at a local Whole Foods store. It definitely was "sneaky good"!


The local H.O.G. chapter sponsored the days event and they also had some fund-raising going on to raise money to help support a couple injured in a motorcycle crash recently. When I started riding motorcycles, it didn't take long for me to realize that motorcyclists as a whole are quite a philanthropic group.


This is the donation "box" that the local chapter brings to events. They do a regular monthly or every other month event on Saturdays called "Hogs and Dogs" where they grill hot dogs and serve them up along with chips (potato chips, not french fries ) and sodas and request small donations just to cover expenses. When there's an additional need, like a rider down, there's an additional request for donations of support.


While there were no Chili Dogs served today, there were plenty of actual dogs in attendance. It made me think that Mr. Sandi and I need to bring Ellie, the Boxer to the dealership some weekend for a bit of socialization.

This little guy was very sweet--and also very blind. But his nose was working overtime!


CONTINUED.....

Aack! Sorry for the repeat photo.

 

A couple more of the canine contingent......





And, yes, in addition to chili and dogs and H.O.G.s, there were lots of motorcycles, including hogs. And interestingly, there seemed to be more Fat Boys than typical. Or maybe I just notice them more now that I own one. Here's El Gordo in the foreground and a lovely older Fat Boy back behind him.


And a closeup of that Fat Boy. I'm not sure what year it was but it was pristine. And it some nice nice mods--Vance & Hines Short Shots, a beefier nacelle, an S&S air cleaner, and a Le Pera seat. Mr. Sandi is on the hunt for an older Fat Boy so now I notice them even more.


On the other side of El Gordo was this Fat Boy. This bike was at least a 2012 because that was the first year that the Fat Boy had the Twin Cam 103 ci engine.


And then there was this guy sampling the chili. We'll just call him a Big Boy.


Here are couple of other bikes that stood out of the crowd today.




And this tank was amazing! This photo doesn't do it justice. In the sun, the paint and metal flake really popped.


And finally, last but not least, the real reason for my visit to the Tucson H-D yesterday. I was at the dealership earlier last week and the GM and Sales and Finance Managers and I got to talking about helmets. I was laughing about how I love to match my helmets to my bikes but after trading the Low Rider S for the Fat Boy recently, I have a matte black helmet with no matte black bike. And El Gordo is the opposite of matte black--his Black Jack Metallic paint is actually quite sparkly. Well, the GM asked me what size helmet I wear and when I said Medium, his eyes lit up and he said he might have just the helmet for me. Back he came with an Arai helmet in Diamond Black, size Medium. He bought it a year or so ago when the dealership carried Arai helmets but he'd never ridden with it even once. The film on the face shield hadn't even been removed! To make a long story short (ha, I've already made it long), I tried it on and it fit like a glove. He encouraged me to take it for a ride to test it out. I've test ridden bikes before but never helmets! I had somewhere I had to be that day but said I'd return Saturday to give it a go. Hence my ride to the dealership on Saturday. The Chili CookOff was an added bonus.

The story has a happy ending. The helmet was perfect and he sold a $700+ helmet to me for $200.

Arai Signet-X

 

Thanks, @Octoberon! It was a fun day out. The dealership has somehow beefed up their motorcycle stock tremendously so now it's also fun to see what they have on the showroom floor. Until fairly recently, it was slim pickins.

Though they have some 2022 models, the vast majority of the bikes for sale there are used. Or as the industry seems to be calling them now (like the auto dealerships), "pre-owned". I'm sure some marketing guy came up with that as an alternative to the word "used".

 

I'm always up for free food and a "treasure" of a bargain, @Mrs Visor! And I lucked out with both this past weekend.