Wonderful weekend in a crapy van

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Originally uploaded by mechanicaldan1

What a long and crazy weekend! One week ago, Dena and I were simply looking at bikes online, and a week later we now own two of them. Dena wanted a Ducati, and after a few searches of Ebay and Bike Trader, we found a nice '98 Ducati 600 SuperSport in yellow that she liked, but it was 350 miles away. I bid on a '98 Kawasaki ZX-9R on Ebay and won the auction, and it's about 400 miles away. So, Dena and I start making plans to get the bikes in one trip. After several phone calls to van rental agencies without any vans, we finally find a place that will rent us a van. Dena finds a cute hotel in a town about half way between both bikes. I email the owner of the ZX-9R to let him know I'm coming to get the bike, but someone else has already picked up my bike from the owner! So, back on Ebay, and luckily I found a second blue '98 ZX-9R, and after a quick phone call to the owner because he posted his mobile number, I go for the Buy It Now. Even better is that it's closer to the Ducati. I pull cash out on Thursday, and we're driving South in a terribly uncomfortable van on Saturday morning. The weather is fairly nice with mostly sunny skies, and the occasional shower that passes quickly. After driving 350 miles, and taking a wrong turn after I confuse right with left, we arrive at the Ducati's home. The Duck looks OK, so exchange money for bike, and load it into the back of the van. Away we go to find the hotel. It's dark, I'm not wearing sun glasses, we have a full tank, no smokes, so we hit it. Roll into Sheffield at around 11:30 PM, find hotel, check in, quick shower, check out for the night.
We wake up Sunday morning, and have a quick continential breakfast for the first time together in England! The hotel has been converted from three old houses, so it's a fun maze of short stairs up, down, left, and right. I get a text from the Kawi owner, so I call him back and give him an ETA. We check out and hit the road. Once again, get lost, but find the Kawi. Looks good, so load it into the van, and start the drive back to Aberdeen.
Heading south, we went through Glasgow following Google maps directions. Dena picks a more direct path on the way back North, and we end up driving through Edinburgh on a back road. The drive was really beautiful. It was nice to be off the main motorway and checking out England and Scotland. We arrived back in Aberdeen around 9:00 PM, and unloaded the bikes at our new house and parked them in the garage for the first time!