Bringing the Bike Home

By the time you are 31 (nearly 32), you have pretty much used up all the "favors" you have allotted in your lifetime from the people in your life that you know who have trucks.  Conversely, if you are a truck owner, you have pretty much used up all your patience for people who ask you if you can help them move something.  That being said I want to save the precious few favors I have from the "truck people" in my life for very important things.  Sadly, while picking up a $140.00, non-running, 31 year old motorcycle is an exciting event for me; I didn’t really want to inconvenience anyone with having to make the trip.

I had originally looked into renting a truck from a rental place (enterprise, u-haul, hertz) but most ended up running anywhere from $89-$130 for the day and I just needed a truck for about two hours to drive to Baraboo, pick up the bike, and then drop it off at the house.  Then it dawned on me, why not rent one of those trucks that Home Depot, or Menards rent for pretty cheap.  After doing a little investigating, it turns out that you don't even need to buy something to use it; all you need is your driver’s license, proof of insurance and a debit/credit card to secure funds.  It's only $18.95 for the first 75 minutes and then it is $5.00 for every additional 15 minutes after that.  Not a bad deal at all, considering that they don't charge you for gas.

So I went to Menard's (its closest to my house) on Thursday November 11th, Veteran's Day, and rented the truck and was off to Baraboo.  Upon arrival there was no one home but the bike was leaned up against the garage.  I went over to check things out and was pleasantly surprised, the tires seemed to be in good shape, the mufflers were aftermarket slip-ons that could use some gaskets, and although he did not have the side covers, he did have the front fender, and there was amazingly very little dirt and grime on the engine and also very little rust on the bike!

After having him and his buddy help me lift it into the back of the truck (the bed was too tall for me to use the short ramp I had brought to wheel the bike up) and a small detour to a buddy's house to pick up the front fender I was on my back home, after a small detour to see the new Veterans Memorial (in the picture) by the airport near the old Badger Ammunition plant.  When I got back to my house I was able to back up to a berm and use the ramp to roll the bike down myself and she was home!  All told I spent about $50 to rent the Menard's Truck which put my total for acquiring the bike at $190.00 sweet