Thanks for the welcomes.... I have been lurking here for a while. I appreciate all the info available here.
This is a mostly true story...
After passing a particular ranch about 25 miles west of Houston many times in the past few months, I had been noticing a red 'something' sitting in a metal storage shed about 500 yds. off the main road. One day I just decided I couldn't stand not knowing what it was any longer. I found the road that lead down to the ranch. Long, winding, washboarded gravel. After crossing all the cattle guards and a couple of fields, I turned the corner and there it was, in all its glory. It was showing its age a little but the big 4 cylinders were sitting there waiting to come back to life. I noticed two brand new ME880 tires and the bright red, hand covered seat that I could see from the highway. A couple cows came over to check me out while I was entranced with my discovery. A few minutes later I heard a tractor come into the pasture and head my way. I met the nice gentleman that owned the property and the bike. We had a nice discussion about the bike which he said belonged to his son for years, but that he had lost interest and left it with him. The gentleman was in his late 60's and said he didn't ride any longer, but he hated to see the bike go to waste so he had taken it to a yamaha dealer to have a little work done. It had new carb boots, tires, and a tune up. He reached over and picked the keys off a nail in the corner post and started it up. Wow! It sounded smooth and strong! It had some signs of age and had been down on its side at least once but the damage was very minor and everything appeared to be straight and true. He said his wife had made the new red seat cover and she was proud of her work. I can't tell you how happy I was that he decided to let me buy the wonderful bike at a very reasonable price! I'm a 1st Gen Vmax owner!! Never thought I would say that!