The Braun Family: Bad to the Bone!

How true is that?! To add to ~~Marcel's~~ our toy collection we decided to get a motorcycle! I was researching and looking at different motorcycles because I was origionally planning on doing this as a surprise for his birthday but when I went to the bank to see what amount I could get a loan for, this plan was quickly shut down. So I talked to Marcel about it because if he signed on the loan with me then we'd have no problem getting the loan (not saying I have bad credit, it's just that I'm on all the vehicle loans and the mortgage so my debt-to-income ratio was ridiculously awful!). I was really bummed when he said no because we need to save money. The next day I was still pouting when I went to work and I sulkily deleted all of my motorcycle research. Later that afternoon Marcel called me and said "Maybe you should just call and see what we could get a loan for if I sign too.", well that didn't take long! I'd already picked out "the one" on KSL and Marcel agreed. A 2006 Honda Spirit!

We got the loan all squared away and headed up this afternoon to get our new ride! We searched high and low for a motorcycle trailor to borrow or rent (that wouldn't cost a small fortune) but couldn't find one so the plan was for Marcel to ride it home and me follow him in the truck (the motorcycle came with a matching helmet so you can all breath easy, we are safe like that!).

Once we arrived at the place that was housing the bike the guy took us around back to see it! Honestly, I never in my life thought I would say this about a motorcycle, but it is beautiful! The pictures didn't do it justice! This truly was "the one"! Plus it came with a bunch of awesome extras so it was a steal!

After the guy explained everything about the bike to Marcel, we headed off! He told us that we should have well enough fuel to make it to the gas station Marcel likes to use that's off 7200 South (mind you the bike doesn't have a gas gage so you have to gage it off of miles traveled, if that makes sense.....). So, with that in mind, we headed for the 7200 South Exit................

........................and didn't even make it to the 5300 South Exit. Marcel slowed way down so I knew something was wrong and he crawled to a stop on the side of the freeway. I pulled up behind him and flipped on the hazards. We were right at the bottom of the hill that makes the 5300 South off ramp so there were concrete barracades up, giving us (well the truck at least) hardly any room to pull off. The cars were speeding past us at freeway speeds and causing the truck to shake, which caused my imagination to go wild with visions of horrendous accidents, which made my heart pound and my breathing shallow and quick (I really need to learn some techniques to help me chill the freak out sometimes!). Luckily nothing I envisioned came true but I was very tense and stressed the whole time we were on the side of the freeway!

Marcel called the guy we got the bike from and to make a long explanation short, Marcel didn't switch to the reserve tank in time and the battery died (he was trying to switch it while keeping up with freeway speeds on a new/unfamiliar bike and couldn't do it safely and the battery died that quickly because it was drained from just sitting in a garage).

So what did we do? Well I didn't do much, just crawled slowly behind Marcel in the truck with the Hazards flashing as he pushed that tank of a bike up the hill off the exit and coasted down to the next gas station. I could just picture people that passed by having not-so-nice thoughts about me in the truck sticking out in the slow lane and moving slower than tar, then getting past me and seeing Marcel exerting himself to push that bike and then them just feeling bad. Oh well. Who cares about what those people think!

Once at the gas station, Marcel filled the tank (less than $10 to completely fill an empty tank? Yes please!!), and it still wouldn't start, which just confirmed it was a dead battery. Luckily one of the many awesome extras that came with the bike is a plug in battery charger! So we found an outlet, plugged the bike in, and charged it up!

We were hanging out there for a good hour and a half and saw some interesting things, one of which was this jacked up van!

Sweet dude!! ;)

Once the battery was charged the bike started right up! We got back on the freeway just in time for rush hour traffic (and I will NEVER understand why it is called that when "rush hour" is basically parking on the freeway.....I understand the irony but come on!), which Marcel will tell you is awesome on a motorcycle (please sense the sarcasm!)!

Once we finally got home and Marcel had rested a bit, ~~I made him~~ he took me for a little joy ride around town!