Yesterday, I got one.
The legal sacrament of bankruptcy is about losing, mostly, with our house being the biggest material loss. I knew that I'd be able to keep my four-year-old Chevy TrailBlazer if I could raise the difference between its agreed-on value and the statutory motor-vehicle exemption -- but my motorcycles, despite having been free-and-clear for years, would be surrendered to the trustee and sold at auction.
Last week, my attorney and I settled on what we'd offer the trustee for the TrailBlazer. I then suggested that we make a second offer that'd include one of the bikes -- admittedly low-ball, definitely a shot in the dark, payable over 12 months.
Fingers crossed, we submitted the offers on Monday. Late Tuesday afternoon, my attorney e-mailed me to say that the trustee had accepted our truck-and-bike proposal -- score!
Motorcycles have taken me to incredible places, introduced me to special people, put food on my table and sustained my soul. In recent months I'd come to accept the probability of life without a bike for the first time in nearly 30 years, but I really couldn't imagine it.
Now I don't have to -- I got my win.
My wife, by the way, is as ecstatic as I am. Her parents? Not so much.
This morning I went out to the barn and hooked up the battery charger to the bike I'm keeping, a 12-year-old Teutonic twin I've had since it was new. I'll liberate our helmets and riding gear from storage tomorrow, air-up the tires and then, dammit, the missus and I are goin' for a ride!
Following the path of Robert E. Lee's retreat near Farmville, Virginia (2000)
