A Yamaha V-Star sitting in the parking lot of St. Joe Harley-Davidson looks about as out of place as a vegetarian at a hotdog eating contest.

But there is was.

At a glance, I recognized the unmistakable line of the back fender, the “dog dish” air cleaner and the moustache-shaped rear turn signal bar. I had heard that someone who worked at the dealership bought my old 650 V-Star Classic.

I wondered if that Star in the parking lot had been mine.

I bought my first V-Star (a 650 Classic) brand spanking new at McBride’s Yamaha four years ago. I thought I was buying a dark blue bike but, once in the sunlight, there was no denying it was purple. The color eventually grew on me.

In two years, I rode that bike everywhere. It carried me to Fayetteville, Ark. It accompanied me to Galveston, Texas, and back. We took trips to the Ozarks to visit family. In two years, I put 10,000 miles on that bike. We’d ridden together through blazing hot days, chilly nights and booming thunderstorms.

And we rode right along side much bigger bikes, Honda VTX’s, a Harley Dyna Glide, a Kawasaki Concours. We kept up with those big boys.

On every trip, that purple V-Star was “The Little Bike That Could.”

But the Little Bike struggled a bit when carrying a passenger and my wife accompanies me on many trips. Thus, after two years, I sold the Little Bike to my brother-in-law, Kevin, and bought its bigger cousin, the 1100 V-Star Classic.

Kevin bought the Little Bike That Could for his wife, Candy. The first thing he did was paint it a maroon color (he never did like the purple). But at that time, Candy was an unsure rider and the bike collected dust in Kevin’s garage for a few months before he decided to sell it.

Kevin works at the Harley-Davidson plant in Kansas City and put the word out that he had a bike to sell. A few later, he told me that a woman who worked at the factory store bought it. Then, he said the new owner began working at St. Joe Harley dealership and I wondered if I would see my old ride in the Harley parking lot.

This V-Star had a new teal and cream paint job. It had new Jardine exhaust pipes and highway bars with cruising pegs. The helmet lock had been relocated to the front fender.

I entered the store and asked a clerk named “Eva” who owned the two-toned V-Star in the parking lot. She smiled and said, “That’s mine.”

“You know, I think that’s my old bike,” I said. “Did you buy it from a guy named Kevin?”

Yes, she did. The beautiful Star in the parking was indeed my old bike.

As we walked outside to look at the Little Bike That Could, Eva couldn’t stop talking about how much she loved her bike. “I put over 4,000 miles on it last year,” she bragged. “It took me everywhere.”

For the next several minutes, we chatted about the rides she taken and I told her about some of my trips. She seemed to love the Little Bike That Could. I walked away feeling like my old bike was in Eva’s good hands.

If you’re like me, you always carry a special place in your heart bikes that you’ve owned. That 650 V-Star was not my first bike, but it was the first bike that I loved. It meant as much to me as a family pet or pictures of my wife and children.

At the time, I regretted having to sell it.

But after talking with her, I was glad that Eva ended up with the Little Bike and I’m happy that she enjoys riding it as much as I did.

And, I hope that Eva and the Little Bike That Could have many more adventures together.