Good bye Black Bomber. 70 thousand miles and 7 good years of service. After my mission, it was time to find a car. After lots of research, I decided on a Honda Accord. Gas was over $4 a gallon at the time so fuel economy was important, as was safety and reliability. Dad also said I’d be wise to get a car that could be used as a family car, that it would help out winning over my future wife. In the end, it wasn’t the 4 doors that Kathryn liked, but the black paint, window tint, and the spoiler. Her brother had a gold Honda Accord without a spoiler, and my car was so much cooler even though they were both Accords of the same model. I digress. So I went to the bank and pulled out $8k of cash and stuffed it in my cargo shorts lower pocket, hopped in the car with Josie, and headed down to Salt Lake with the ultimatum of buying a car in order to get home. We stayed with some family friends in Salt Lake and looked around at cars, test drove a few, and made a couple of offers. When I made an offer, it was being completely honest when I’d say, “I can only offer you this much.” I had my eye on Black Bomber, and on the late afternoon of the second day looking, the people selling it finally got back to me and we made an appointment. I basically knew I was going to buy it before we even got there. It was everything I was looking for and more, and the price was right. After taking it for a test drive, I was ready to go in and offer asking price, but Josie convinced me to at least offer something less. As luck would have it, they accepted the offer and that basically covered sales tax and registration. Thanks again Josie for the help on the trip. I hopped in my car and drove home. It felt good. I loved looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the spoiler as I drove away that day. It felt good.
Black Bomber was actually named by Grandpa Gerald. One day when I was down at Grandma and Grandpa’s house visiting them, and we were out washing the cars, he asked something to the effect of hows the Black Bomber treating you and the name stuck.
Many good trips, dates, oil changes, a timing belt, tires, etc., later, it was time sell Black Bomber. The family was growing. After 6 months of talking about buying a new car, we finally decided to pull the trigger and do it and soon we found ourselves with three cars in the driveway. We got it all cleaned up, and took our parting pictures. The following is a copy of the ad we posted on KSL. Long live Black Bomber, may you serve your new masters well.
For sale is a very nice, well cared for, clean, 2000 Honda Accord with 183875 miles. We’ve got four brand new Goodyear tires installed. The front brakes and rotors were redone within the last 500 miles. The rear struts were recently replaced as well. The air conditioner runs cold. The black paint, window tint, rear spoiler, moonroof, and custom rims give this car an edge over the competition. I bought this car with 105000 miles on it, and it has served me well. Oil has been changed regularly, and any needed maintenance has been performed. Our family has grown and we’ve recently added a larger car to our family, so it’s time to let this one go.
On to the story of Marvus. Like I said, we’ve been thinking of getting a little larger family car for many months. That subject basically occupied almost every conversation we’d had while driving. We wanted a car with three rows to give us more room to expand in the future and to haul around the substantial pile of gear it takes to go on a trip with our two kiddos. We test drove several different cars of various makes and models, and eventually settled on a GMC Acadia. Once that difficult decision was made, we began looking for one in earnest whereas before we were casually watching the market. We made an offer on one but it wasn’t accepted. Then we found Marvus. She came out of Moab. She’s a 2010 GMC Acadia with lots of life left that we got for a fair price. We don’t have a lot of time in the seat, but so far we’ve really enjoyed having her. The reason behind the name is that Kathryn’s CRV is called Darbus, and we bought the Acadia from a lady named Marva. Put the two together and we have our portmanteau name Marvus.
Next up, the XT225. We bought this bike two years ago with the intent that it could be Kathryn’s dirt bike, and if we had visitors come, they could ride it. The XT225 model motorcycle has a special place in my heart. I’m going to get nostalgic for moment here and explain why. “Old Whitey” was the first bike I ever owned. I bought it from James’ dad. I got quite a bit of use out of it on and off the road. It did quite well on the trails due to it’s very low stance, and it was quite fun to put around on on the road. I had it up at school Junior and Senior year. It was my daily ride ride to class. I got a couple of parking tickets for parking in faculty motorcycle parking, but it was totally worth it. Old Whitey was definitely a bonus when dating Kathryn too. On our first official date I offered to walk her home from my apartment. Upon passing the motorcycle in the parking lot, I offered to give her a ride home on it, (she lived in the next comlex over). We hopped on and what do you know, Old Whitey didn’t wasn’t ready for the most amazing first date ever to be over, so it just kept going right on past Kathryn’s place. We ended on a fun ride up to the Y parking lot. Cliche? Not at all, this was our first date, not the fifth so we didn’t kiss. That’s a whole other story. We just enjoyed the ride up. She held on tight and it felt good. We enjoyed many fun rides together on Old Whitey. No you can see why I have a tender place in my heart for the XT225. Back to the new XT225. In the end, Kathryn decided that she’d rather stick with a 4-wheel machine. We enjoyed having it, but it just wasn’t getting used enough. We put 70 miles on it in two years which just isn’t much. When Kevin decided to head out for the summer, we decided it was time to sell. So, we posted it on KSL and ended up selling it to some nice folks from Moab. Yes, Moab again. But that’s not all. I actually bought my dirt bike from Moab so that’s three Moab KSL experiences. We’ve had great luck with those Moab folks. New Old Whitey That’s Blue, may you serve your new masters well.
2006 Yamaha xt225 ON/OFF road. Street legal dual sport enduro trail bike. Just changed the oil. Electric start, with a brand new battery. Tires in great shape. Bought for my wife but she didn’t end up using it. Ready to go.
