Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/776310
41 www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS nFebruary 2017n CALL FOR YOUR THUNDER PRESS DISCOUNT with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, hash browns, fruit and orange juice for $20. Chris and Janet, along with Chris's wife Rebecca and their two boys, Wesley, aged fi ve, and Johnny, aged two, were sitting near me and I talked with Chris for a while. He worked in all aspects of the business growing up but found that he liked sales the best. He enjoys talking to people. He said that Wesley is a lot like him in that regard. They even set up a desk for him in the store and he goes around talking to the customers. Johnny, on the other hand, is all about how the bikes work. Chris said that his dad left some big shoes to fi ll. He made running the business look easy and was always out on the fl oor talking to the customers. One of the things he remembered best about Tom was that he was always willing to give everyone a second chance. Wesley walked up to Bobby Strickland, who looked a lot like Santa to him, and asked if Santa would give him $5. Bobby told him not now. Wesley walked away and came back a few minutes later and said someone else would give him $500,000. Wesley was trying to negotiate with Santa! Normally the ride would continue down the coast to Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero where Tom would give his customary toast to the New Year but Chris needed to get home. Several of the riders, however, did plan to go down there. I asked him if he had been pro- moted yet and he said that Wesley had walked up to him the other day and asked him, "Dad, are you like the boss and Nana the master?" Although he was vice president he thought Wesley had it right and Chris was just fi ne with it for now. As he talked about his dad he faltered a little bit as anyone would. While he talked, I was reminded of Tom's words once more: "Through good times and bad we have struggled, prospered, and have hung in there no matter what. It is not the company that my grandfather started in 1914. Like the motorcy- cle that we sell, it has evolved over time, being constantly refi ned and fi ne-tuned." Dudley Perkins Harley- Davidson continues to be refi ned and fi ne tuned as it moves into its fourth generation, with a fi fth waiting in the wings, negotiating with Santa. 4 Dudley Perkins Continued from page 22