I would never knowingly commit a felony.

Driving home from a friend's home the other evening my headlights shone on a patio table, 4 chairs, 2 bikes, and a garden hose caddy placed on the curb.  There was a free sign taped to the table.  Hmmmm, I thought..... I bet one of the boys would like a bike.  So I pull over and check them out, not an easy task in the dark.  Of course the tires were flat, but the brakes seemed fine. 

Before I could put the darn thing in my trunk I had to relocate all the crap, junk, random stuff that I've had knocking around in there for months. Everything always takes so much more effort than you think it will initially.  I chose the bike with the better brakes and with a little man handling (or woman handling in my case) I was able to wrestle it into the trunk.  Unfortunately the front wheel and the handlebars stuck out.  But as luck would have it, the stuff that's been in the trunk came in handy.  Found stuff to put under handle bars so they wouldn't scratch the bumper, and even had a piece of rope to tye the trunk lid down.   (Days later I found out the wheels are "quick release" and I could have easily removed them and it would have fit fine in there)

I know nothing about bikes.  I know how to ride one, and that there are mountain bikes, and road bikes, and a company named Schwinn makes bikes.  That is the extend of my bike knowledge. 

I came home, wrestled the bike out of the trunk, inspected it a little more in the dim light of the garage.  It didn't look bad at all.  No rust, barely any scratches, just a couple of flat tires. 

I told Denny about my find.  Asked him if he'd ever heard of "Trek Navigator".  He did a google search and discovered Trek Navigator mountain bikes on Craigs List original price over $400 selling for over $200 used.  Hmmmm......maybe I should go get the other one.....  I was thinking of Anthony when I was stuffing it in my trunk, but maybe I'd like to have one for myself, or maybe one of my other nephews would like one.

Tried to talk Denny into going back with me to get the other one.  He would have nothing to do with it.  Said he wasn't going to steal bikes with me.

The second bike was much more difficult to get into the trunk.  Turns out it was larger than the first.  Which made it a little heavier, and much more awkward.  Dammit, why did I come back for it?  And after Denny and Katie teased me that I had stolen the first bike I started to doubt myself.  Maybe these people had put the table and chairs out with the free sign (which were gone by now), and they had been riding their bikes and just dropped them there on the curb too.  Was Fullerton PD going to come driving up behind me blinding me with their search light asking me what I was up too?  I looked at the house, all the lights were out (by now it's like 10:30pm).  Am I stealing this bike I'm trying to jam into my trunk?  Have I already stolen one?  am I going to end up in jail?

Surely they meant these bikes were free.  Why would they leave bikes they wanted to keep on the curb with a bunch of other stuff that they've put a free sign on.  Also...why would they have been riding 2 bikes with 2 flat tires and dropped them on the curb.  I'm not stealing these bikes....really officer.

Finally managed to cram the big ass fricken bike into trunk dammit.  Geeze.

Took the bikes to bike shop, guy says they are in great shape, all they need are tires, adjustments, and gears lubed.  I also purchased a bike rack to put on the car since I'd decided to keep the smaller one for myself and it would be easier to transport it (this way I can continue to leave all the crap, junk, random stuff in my trunk...you never know when rope is going to come in handy).  I hate to admit it, but I was a little leary when I went to pick the bikes up from the shop....wondered if maybe it was standard operating procedure (SOP) for them to run serial numbers on bikes brought in by people who claim to have found them on curb, wondered if maybe the police would be waiting for me.

Last Saturday we had our annual family beach bash at Bolsa Chica Beach.  I took the bikes with me.  Anthony, Adrian, and myself rode to dog beach, where we sat on a bench and enjoyed watching all the dogs play. 

Now to my 51 new things:

#16 Allegedly stole 2 bikes.
#17  Secured a bike rack to car and transported bikes....looking in the rear view mirror a ridiculous number of times to ensure that the bikes were still there.
#18 Rode bikes with 2 of my great nephews at the beach.

Now, final tally on actual cost of bikes:

Loading, transporting, and unloading bikes from "free" curb to home.  1.5 hours
Loading bikes and transporting to bike shop 1 hour.
Washing car so bike rack would not scratch it .75 hour.
Securing bike rack to car 1.75 hours
Cost of bike repairs $134.18
Cost of bike rack $119.63

5 hours and $253.81....next time I think I'll pass up that "free" sign on a curb.

Riding bikes at the beach with my nephews.......priceless.