On the way home, I thought about it. I wouldn't likely get to the bank, anyway, but I still wanted to search this out. If I said, "no," to it, would I regret it? Surely I could live without it, but what I meant by regret was, "would I still keep looking for another one, and think back about this one wondering if I should have bought it"? And if I didn't buy this one but found another one, would it be in a similarly good condition? What would I pay for another one?

All of these questions came to mind. When I returned home, my wife went to work. It struck me that I should do this. I should buy it. But how do I get the money? I could take the kids to the bank, but I thought the tellers were closed at the branch at 3:00, and it's nearly 4:00. I called, found out they were open, and shortly after that my mother-in-law arrived. I took the opportunity, ran to the bank to get a certified cheque, and called around for insurance.

I knew my own insurance company was out, since I asked them earlier about insurance for such a vehicle and they wanted over $300 for a year. They don't underwrite motorcycle policies, so they go through something called the "facility association" which takes on drivers who are refused insurance from other companies, but usually drivers take a huge hit this way. I called the local Yamaha dealer and found the names of some other companies. The one I eventually chose set me up over the phone for insurance right away, for a total cost of $97 per year. I can save that much in gas, or so my rough calculations demonstrated. Essentially, it appeared as though this would cost to buy, but the rest of it, short of any maintenance, would pay for itself in gas that would have been burnt driving my SUV around.

So I called, told them I'd buy it, and set up a time to pick it up the next day. My mother would be in town to look after the kids while my wife and I went over to pick it up. Strangely, I was excited at being viewed as less of a man. The "grin factor" was already taking hold...