It Has Been DONE! It is now official! I am the proud owner of a 2006 Kawasaki Ninja 500R motorcycle! Yes, that is it above! I am very excited! We just picked it up yesterday! After missing the local bike for sale in Paso Robles several weeks ago now I started to get a bit more serious about looking. I had originally pulled the money out of the bank for this bike above but I never went and looked at it. It was three hours away in Visalia. There was just too much going on to drive that far to look at a bike. Instead, I kept the money in my purse in a sealed envelope labeled "motorcycle papers". That was September 9th. Anyway, I finally called the guy back, assuming he had sold the bike by now, but was pleasantly surprised to learn he had not. He was only available Sunday to look at it. Mark agreed to head on out there so off we went. The bike was touted to be a 2006 with only 262 miles on it. The guy basically never rode it. He had knocked it over once in his garage and scratched up the mirror a little. Other than that he said it was pretty much new looking. The Craigslist ad stated $4000.00. which is right what this bike would go for.

Mark asked me before we left how much did I want to pay for it, and then what was my maximum I was willing to pay for the bike. I told him, I would like to pay $3500, but would pay $3700. So, when we pull up to look at the bike the thing is pretty much as he stated. You couldn't quite call it a brand new bike, but it certainly wasn't qualifying for used either! Funny thing, Mark and I both thought to ourselves (as we later found out talking later) that this guy isn't going to back off of $4000 for this bike. But, we look at the bike, and Mark takes it for a ride. The guy had filled it with a full tank of gas. He had put a brand new battery in it because the old one had died which is normal after two and half years of little use on a bike, and he had his mechanic clean the carburetors to make sure they weren't gunked up from sitting. He wanted to sell this bike. He wanted to sell it because his daughter needed a car for college. She was about 18. Apparently it was she who had put the ad on Craigslist. She said he had been threatening to sell the bike for six months but never did anything about it. Finally he told her if she could do anything about to go for it. So she did, and with all his contact info. Funny thing, there was a friend over when we got there and she said to the daughter, "what is your dad going to do for his mid-life crisis?" The daughter pipes up, "This WAS his mid-life crisis!" She was pretty funny and quite familiar with her dad. There did not seem to be a mother around. I did not ask and it was apparent that kids (daughter and son) were with him full time. I am thinking the mother either passed on early or just jammed out of the picture for whatever reason.

Anyway, after Mark returns from his ride, I inspect the bike some more and there is one tiny chip from the paint in the gas tank. Looks like he dropped the key on it or something. I said, "I could paint this in with my toenail polish, it is the same color!" The guy laughed and said, "That's what my daughter said but I told her I wasn't hiding anything about the bike so I told her she couldn't paint it". So, that told me right there the guy was pretty straight up. Also the bike was out of current registration, it had expired in May. So, I tell the guy i like the bike and it was time to talk money and I plainly ask him, "well, would you take $3500 cash right now?" He says, "Oh, I knew she was going to try and talk me down" with a big smile on his face, "yeah, I can do that" he says. It was done at that point. We went in and signed papers. He then told Mark as we were loading the bike into the truck. "If you were going to give me $4000, I was going to give you back $200 anyway for the bike being out of registration."

All in all, he was absolutely one of the nicest people I have ever bought anything from. we were probably there for an hour total. Looking at the bike and chatting. He and Mark started talking books and then his daughter started talking schools and where she wants to go and that she had friends who attend Cuesta and such. It was good. Our kids were as good as gold the entire boring trip for them.

Anyway, I do have a motorcycle jacket with the body armor. I had before I even had the bike. I have a dirt bike helmet and have ordered a street helmet since my old street helmet is 20 years old and seriously needs replacing. My jacket is pink and white! It is way cool. Will have a pic of me and the bike soon.

I am also in the middle of painting Roo's room. Well, actually haven't officially painted anything yet. I have everything out of his room. He is temporarily in the office. I have the wallpaper border off the walls now, walls scrubbed and clean, baseboard removed (will be putting new in), and I am in the process of spackling holes in the walls. Who knew a seven year old could be so fond of push pins? I will have to put before and after pictures up of that too.

Goodnight~