The Beemer

It's been a real stressful couple of days. The seller & I were supposed to meet day before yesterday. Then again yesterday. He was supposed to call me at 4pm and set up a meet. He called at 4:30 and said his phone was out and he'd call me with his new number. I'm thinking, yeah, right, he's blowing me off. He's found someone who'll pay more. (If the bike is what he says it is, it's worth at least $18-20k.) Or it's a scam and he doesn't want to fleece someone so close to home. Finally, at 8:30pm, he called and said OK, let's meet Thursday. I met him this morning at the Mercedes dealership in Kearney Mesa. We go inside and check out the AMGs and an Aston Martin until his buddy shows up. The friend has the pink slip for some weird reason. We sit at a desk and I write a check for $13,000. He signs over the pink slip. I put it in my leather jacket and we sit and chat a bit. After a while, it's time to leave. We take snapshots of each other for posterity and I get on my ST and head straight for AAA to register the bike. When I get there, there's a missed call from the seller on my cellphone. hmmm. I go up to the desk and pull the pink slip from my pocket, but IT'S NOT THERE!
I call the seller and sure enough, he found it after it fell out of my pocket in the parking lot. He's at my bank on Convoy cashing the check. I buzz back there and meet him inside. He gives me the paper and I void the check and get a cashiers check for him instead. All's well that ends well, and I owe him an apology for any ill thoughts.
I am now the proud owner of 4 (count 'em, FOUR) motorcycles. At least I think I am. It's kinda spooky buying something that's on the other side of the planet, sight unseen, for so much money when I won't see it for at least 2 months. Fingers crossed.

I'm not sure how long this link will work, but this is the bike:

http://www.knopftours.com/Web-Site/R1200GS.html

1st post

Here we go...

I've just agreed to purchase a 2008 BMW R1200GS. It's in Heidelberg, Germany. I guess that actually commits me to making this trip. I'll be using this blog as a trip journal. Hopefully, it will be filled with tales of exciting adventures, interesting people, and lots of other fun stuff. I've got about 2 months before departure and there is a long "to do" list to check off before I leave. Wish me luck and check back for progress reports.