21 February 2012

Givin' Up The Favorite

First, if you haven't read the post immediately below this one, do so now.

This internet thing continues to amaze. A commenter in response to my son's problem finding a "reasonably priced shipper" left a link to contact "U-Ship".
My son did, then called me.
"Dad, I found a shipper that will move the bike for $425, and he has nothing but favorable reviews."
"That's GREAT son! I can't imagine you'll do any better than that. Hire him."
"There's one problem Dad... To get that rate the bike has to be ready to go TOMORROW."
(Here he pauses to gauge my reaction.)
"Sigh. Well I suppose we could make it work. What time will he be there to pick up the bike?"
"I'll have him call you."

And so it unfolded that my favorite ride, that old 800cc BMW, is now on its first leg to Arizona.
The guy called and we agreed he would meet me at 0830 hours. The gas tank had to be empty, but there were no other restrictions. I got home to find a big Dually GMC truck with an absolutely HUMUNGOUS trailer behind it parked in front of our house with two guys sleeping in the cab.
I drained the tank on the BMW, opened the garage door, and the guy called...

"Is that you I see milling around in there?"

Nice guy. He took great care to load the bike securely to avoid damage, then waved goodbye and drove off. He will unload the bike, fill the trailer with furniture from a 3-bedroom home, then reload the bike at the end of the trailer...
L.I.F.O..
Big Bubba should be lookin' at the old airhead this weekend.
Strange... I'm happy and sad at the same time. I'll miss the bike, but know he's gonna love it as much as I did.

I'm already looking for another old Beemer.

3 comments:

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Sure he's gonna love it. How cool is that??

BZ

Peter said...

I envy him! I used to ride a BMW R100RT in South Africa, and always found it just a bit too much for the touring I used to do. The R80RT always struck me as about the perfect balance between size, weight and power. If you find more than one of them, drop me a line (my e-mail addy's in my blog profile) and I might just come your way for a group buy!

:-)

Greybeard said...

Agreed, Peter, so long as you're not two-up. He's 6'3" tall and when we rode the R80 together we had to "make our buddy smile", ya know?
I've already found a nice one on "Craigslist" close and I'm bargaining with the seller. They're out there if you dig!

(I visit your blog and like it a lot. Thanks for coming by.)