My current bike sacrifices performance for comfort, but at this point in my life, it was a trade I’m happy with. I have a friend: Vasco da Gama, 13th great grandson of the Portuguese Explorer of the same name. I didn’t know that when I met him, Norm and their wives at a gas station in 29 Palms. I was on my way to Las Vegas, taking the back desert highways to Route 66 and then I-95 in either Nevada or Arizona. The bikes caught my eye at first; it was 1998 and they both had Harley-Davidson 95th Anniversary Paint Jobs, or so I thought, but Norm’s was a HD Electric Glide and Vasco was riding a Yamaha Royal Star with a similar paint job. He told me they were going to Laughlin and I could ride along so I wouldn’t get lost. I accepted and was invited on weekend rides about twice a month through 1999. It was also in 1999 when I traded in my 1998 Harley-Davidson XLH 883 for a 1996 Harley-Davidson Softail Custom. Rick was doing the paperwork at Pomona Valley Harley-Davidson and needed 3 references (formality). Vasco’s name came out of my phone, but I told Rick let me try and remember his last name. Rick said, ‘is it da Gama?’ I said yes, do you know him. He said no, I know a Vasco da Gama from history. I said ‘interesting, I’ll ask him about it’. I did and he told me the story. Somewhere in the middle, he said he rode the Royal Star for a smoother ride opposed to the vibration of the Harley-D; I was around 30 and Vasco was around my current age. Decades later it rings true for me more than it did when he first told me. We are all on unique journeys, but my sacrificing performance for comfort on a bicycle is similar to Vasco doing it on a motorcycle.