The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Tom Petty has it so right.

The hardest part about ordering a new Ural, is waiting for that shiny new sidecar rig to arrive — though it does help (a little) to know the hows and whys of getting a Ural motorcycle from the mountains of Siberia to western Oregon.

Granted, I’ve plenty to keep my foil-shrouded mind occupied in the meantime. It’s the holidays, so there’s plenty to do in terms of gifts for other people – but this is also my and Jodie’s first motorcycle, so we’re also keeping tabs on gifts for ourselves. (Which is another set of posts in and of itself.)

Then there’s telling everyone in all creation that “we’re getting a Ural… and no, we didn’t say “urinal”. Ural. U-R-A-L. Right. No, it’s a motorcycle. Steel, not porcelain. With a sidecar. A sidecar. Yep, that’s right, we’re nuts…” Repeat.

Then there’s arranging the rest of the financing – in some ways, not the world’s worst headache, but in many ways, something that merits a rant post all its own.

It’s only a matter of time. My 2007 Ural Patrol could be here by the end of December. Or maybe the middle of January. I don’t know. But it will get here. And in the mean time, I will wait — even if that is the hardest part.