A done deal.

So, I took Mom to see the Royal Spartanette today and she loved it too. Oh wait, I already posted that, didn't I? I guess I am keeping up with this journal better than I expected!

So after looking at the trailer today with Mom we went home and there was a package from Donna in FL... my new Singer 301 arrived in perfect condition and she is gorgeous! I've named her Pearl, after Donna's grandmother who was the original owner in 1950-something. I'll post photos soon.

Then Julie and I went to the bank to get the trailer cash and stopped off at the Sequoia Drive-In and got bacon burgers and onion rings... this place is outrageous, two burgers and one order of rings was $18, but my God! Their rings and fries are awesome and they give you about five pounds in a single order! We brought the food home and ate with Mom and Dominic, then I went back and met LouAnn around 6:00pm and paid her for the Spartanette. We got the title transfer papers and everything squared away and now it's mine, all mine!

As a symbolic gesture she asked me to put the new tabs on the license plate since she had just renewed them so had not yet put the 2009 sticker on. It has the cool old black and orange California plate still, which is nifty.

Now I have to figure out exactly where it's going to sit in the yard and how we are going to do the foundation/leveling platforms. She currently has it on these two bases made from railroad ties sunk in gravel and cinder blocks stacked on top of those. She said I can probably take the cinder blocks and wood base beams since she originally paid for them when she brought the trailer to the land it's now on.

And now for the bad news. While I was leaving it was very dark, no lights on the long gravel drive up to the trailer and no moon or stars because it was overcast, and the windows were fogged up... so yes, you are probably already guessing where this is going and you would be right. I backed about 100 yards down the drive and just when I thought I was clear of all the obstacles (the property is a bit Sanford & Son) I hear this horrible tell-take "CRRRRUNCH!"

I pulled forward, turned around in a patch of grass so I was facing forward and put my brights on to see what I had hit. It was a junked out old pickup's bumper made of solid heavy metal. Thank goodness it was just an old rust heap and there was no damage to it anyway because the bumper on Julie's Lexus is that flexible plastic crap. I just about died when I felt/heard it, thinking I may have hit someone's nice car and damaged it, and imagining the cost of fixing someone else's car... ugh!

Once I had ascertained that there was no damage to the other vehicle I got back in the car and drove towards home. I stopped in at Valero and parked under the glaring lights at the fuel pumps to check out the damage to Julie's car. Yes, the bumper was crunched in at the passenger corner, and the side marker light lens cover is broken but the actual tail light was untouched. It is the same spot on the corner of the bumper that was already damaged, and it's only the plastic bumper, none of the actual body or paint is touched.

When I got home I went online and looked up replacement parts and it should only cost around $200 to replace the whole bumper and marker light assembly whenever we get around to it. We would have had to replace it before selling the car anyway. That's for a new one, we may actually find a used one from a salvage lot that is already the right color, since I am pretty sure the new ones just come primer grey. I'll do more research on that later.

All in all, despite the crunching of the Lexus, it was a good day.