Ice Cream and a Dirt Bike

I was washing up from an early dinner last night and my husband comes in quite excited, telling me about a dirt bike and trailer for sale and we have to go tonight and see it, please, please, pretty please. (ok, he didn't say pretty please but that would have been fun right?) I said, ok, as long as we stop for ice cream on the way home.

So off we go to find someone's house with a dirt bike and trailer. We have a GPS but I don't think the GPS really knew where we were going because as we were driving my husband pulled out the paper map and started asking me for street signs. Notice he didn't give the map to me to navigate as we would have ended up in Saudi if I took over. So I was in charge of watching for street signs and green lights and making sure we didn't wreck as he looked at the map and drove at the same time. This sounds dangerous if you are from the states, distracted driving, but I don't think it matters here. It is also funny to call out which street we are on because I am trying to pronounce and spell the signs so he can find it on the map! I am making this up, but streets have names like Ala Bani and Ben Syriani.

I soon figure out my husband is just making random turns and ignoring the GPS, throwing the paper map in the seat. I can't say we were lost....but we didn't know where we were going. We are in a strange part of the city. I am not saying it is a bad part, but not a part we have ever been in before. We are near the edge because one side of the road had houses and one side was a dark desert. We give up and pull over. I am on lookout duty for suspicious activities...and my husband calls the man selling the bike. For the purpose of this I will call him Jerry. My husband starts telling Jerry stores and mosques nearby for landmarks....these are on every corner so this is not helpful. Jerry decides to drive and find us. We drive to find Jerry. It must have been fate as we actually find him and his house in the dark. Everyone here lives behind concrete walls in little neighborhoods. It is a little scary to go behind the wall not sure what you will find, holding your breath as they close the gate behind you. Fortunately, although it wasn't super fancy, it did look ok for us to be there.

So we park and walk to his house. He is from Britain, was very energetic, obviously single. He is moving to Malaysia and selling all his "toys". So they talk and my daughter and I stand and watch. He turns on the bike and revs the engine. My daughter is very scared now. Thank you Jerry. This is a sincere thank you as it will postone my husband from getting her on a bike one day too soon. He says...lets take it out for a ride. We run to the car and buckle up so we don't lose this guy once he gets out of the gate. I don't know if energetic was a good adjective because crazy is more like it. He takes off down the street without a helmet or gear. We go a few streets over to a block that is dark and mostly dirt. Off Jerry goes, popping wheelies and zooming down the road. Pretty reckless. I give my husband the...if you do that, so help me look. His eyes twinkle as he basically runs out of the car to get on the bike himself. He hops on the bike and off he goes. My daughter is calling out from the back seat...."Daddy crazy, Daddy crazy"! It is very strange to be on a dark street in the Middle East watching my husband tear off on a bike. I can't say it is comforting.

He didn't ride long. Thank goodness. He gets in the car and Jerry does two or three wheelies and rides back to his house, manic style. I looked at my husband and said..."If you want the bike, lets make the deal and get out of here!". He is like a little boy at Christmas by now.

So we make the deal and my husband will pick it up tomorrow. Jerry had a car he just sold too. Mercedes something, sorry for you car lovers out there, I don't know the specifics. He said he was at a car show looking around. He and another gentleman (turns out to be a sheik)  are eyeing the same car. So the sheik asks him to come look at his personal collection. Jerry follows him to a warehouse full of about 30 to 40 cars! Jerry says there was any make of car you could imagine, ferrari, vipers, anything and everything! So Jerry found this mercedes and commented on how nice it was. The sheik told him to take it. Jerry couldn't just take it. So the sheik insisted he take it for the weekend. He did and came back and offered to buy the car. So the sheik sold him the car for what comes to 20,000 US Dollars. This is a car worth 100,000. Jerry just sold it for 20,000, the same he paid for it two years ago. We finish talking with Jerry and get back in our old, dusty, inexpenive SUV. My husband and I both look at each other and without saying anything I know we are both thinking the same question, "where are the car shows around here and how do we meet a sheik?"

You might ask...what about my end of the deal? What about the ice cream? Yes, I got a milk shake from Baskin Robbins. So the night was complete. Ice cream and a dirt bike adventure!