My life has taken me to exotic places. I’ve waded through the bluest water off the Galapagos Islands. I’ve sipped yak butter tea in the Himalayas. I’ve ridden winding roads through the jungles of East Africa.

This trade brought me to the Denny’s out by the highway in Stockton.

So I can check that off the list now, too.

Dave (not his real name) contacted me weeks ago. He was very interested in that little amp head I’d received in a trade for the custom guitar I’d gotten for the bicycle I had. In fact, this trade originated back when I was still staying with friends, before I had a place of my own.

Dave got in touch via Craigslist and offered this beautiful electric blue amplifier. Bigger than the amp head I had, more powerful. It was nearly new, only played for about 10 hours he said, never gigged, only ever played in the house. There were some changes happening in the band he played in (they got a horn section!), and he needed a different amp setup to compete. He sent me photos. He sent me a few videos after I’d asked. He went above and beyond. Dave absolutely earned this trade.

As with any musical equipment I consider, my good friend Walker was an essential advisor in this trade. He told me exactly why I needed to trade for this amp. As you’ll see later, he was right.

Thing is, just as Dave and I had agreed to trade my amp head for his amp, our counties announced the shelter-in-place order. We were only to leave the house for essential or emergency things. Dave’s wife, reasonable woman that she is, gave him a lot of shit for considering making a drive to trade music equipment at a time like this.

Oh, and Dave lives in Ione, California. That’s a 220-mile round trip if we were to meet at either end.

“Stockton looks like it’s roughly halfway for both of us,” I told him in one of our exchanges. “Maybe we could meet there one day?”

“There’s a Denny’s where the highways meet,” he told me.

Done and done.

The weeks passed. We stayed in touch from time to time. I don’t know what changed or what he finally told his wife, but we agreed to meet at 9am on a Sunday in the Denny’s parking lot. We’d be in masks. We’d put the amps on the ground and walk away from them keeping safe distance. No funny business.

And… we did just that. Almost no words exchanged. I, in my mask and gloves, took the amp out of the trunk, sprayed and wiped it down with bleach, and set it down. We each walked to our left, I picked up the new amp, set it down by my car, wiped it down with bleach, and into the trunk it went.

“We should be quick,” he said during the exchange. “This is a bad area.”

And almost without another word, he was gone. I didn’t stay long; there was no Grand Slam to be had on this day.

And now Dave is happy and I have had more interest in this new amp than any other item I’ve posted for trade. Walker’s instincts were right. Guitars, amps, amp stacks, more guitars… I may be close to a trade already, and I’ve only had the thing online for a little over a week.

So, expect this one to go fast. I gained more than 30% in value in this trade, though I don’t expect to get near that much in the next one. I’ll be glad if I get $200-$300 in growth, but so far, the offers are coming to me and I’m in a good position to pick the one that feels best.

So, thanks Dave. Thanks, Walker. And thank you, too, Denny’s in Stockton, for helping to keep this weird wild project moving along. Cheers.

1984 Mercier Le Velo line:
Original item value: $200
Number of trades to date: 3
Latest trade: Fender SuperSonic amp head ($800) for Limited Edition Fender Custom ’68 Deluxe Reverb amp ($1050)
Total line value dollar increase: $850
Total line value percent increase: 425%

So long executive excess, hello sensible sedan!

The story behind the Mercedes is a long one, and if this project ever turns into a book, boy, this car will certainly have its own chapter. For now, suffice to say that I’m glad to be rid of it. It’s a good car that needs a little work, but the experience I had with the seller was insane, and wow am I glad that chapter is done.

By contrast, my experience with Jon (not his real name), who offered his Ford Fusion, has been very easy! After a few weeks without hearing any interest in the car — surely because of the pandemic and the general mistrust of being outside these days, at least in part — I got a message from Jon asking if I’d consider this trade. We chatted back and forth a little and decided to meet the next day in the parking lot of a local strip mall, which I expected would be largely deserted. It was, and we kept our distance from each other, masks and gloves, all, and took a simultaneous test drive.

He was ready to trade on the spot, but I was unsure. The Fusion is a smooth ride and felt like it was in excellent driving shape. It wasn’t clear, though, that I’d be able to easily trade or sell the car with the damage done to the body. Clearly Jon or a previous owner had been in some sort of collision. It wasn’t a disaster, but it was noticeable. I don’t want to trade for cars that require me to put any real money into them. I asked for a day to think about it. Jon was reticent — he’d driven over to the East Bay from the city, and didn’t want to have to do it again. I offered to come to him if I decided to go forward with it, and he agreed.

I thought more about it. Given the issues that the Benz had — it needs some brakes and belt work, and the instrument cluster needs to be replaced soon — it wasn’t clear how easily I’d find a buyer or trader for it. Jon told me he was leaving the country soon, and had always wanted to own and drive a Mercedes.

I thought on it and got back to him. I’d take it. I figured, there will be someone with a good-condition motorcycle or truck who’s looking for a reliable family car, and won’t care much about the body damage. Given that the Fusion does seem to drive really reliably, and that it’s a very high-rated model year, it seemed like the right move for me. And, Jon gets his Mercedes. Hopefully this is a true win-win, and I suppose soon we’ll find out if this was a good strategic move on my part. I’m optimistic.

So, onward. Life moves forward, this time in a sensible mid-size sedan.

1999 Ducati Monster 750 Dark trading line:
Original item value: $2,800 / $1,000
Number of trades to date: 2
Latest trade: 2002 Mercedes Benz S430 ($3,200) for 2012 Ford Fusion SE ($4,000)
Total line value dollar increase: $3,000
Total line value percent increase: 300%

This one stayed in the family!

Emma is good people. She’s a close friend, the bassist in the band I play in, and literally everyone I know loves her. At band practice last week I mentioned I had a couple items that weren’t getting a lot of attention, namely my projector and my movie theater seats. Emma’s ears perked right up. “I have a bike I’ve been trying to sell,” she said. Bikes are great! Always in high demand and, while I’m not at all an expert on them, I know them well enough to have a general idea about condition and quality of bike. I was interested.

Being the thorough, awesome person she is, Emma sent me the bike’s whole backstory. And it’s a good one!

We have a group email for the First and Last Chance Scooter Club. Last August an email came through from a guy named Barry who was looking into getting a scoot and wanted to see if one would fit down his side path into his backyard. The name looked familiar, so I offered to ride over and see if my scoot would fit. Turns out I already knew Barry. After realizing it won’t fit, we had some nice refreshing water in his apartment and I commented on one of his bikes, he sold it to me the next day.

Barry used to run Changing Gears Community Bike Shop out on the Alameda Navel Base next to the Food Bank. The building got sold a few years ago and the bike shop got shut down. When I was in high school I would volunteer at the bike shop and use my hours to buy parts to modify my commute bike for school. Lovely bike until I got hit by a car (thank god for helmets). At the shop, Barry had access to all of these bike parts from donated bikes and could build whatever he wanted from them. He decided to build a 1990s dream crossover bike, before fat bikes or gravel bikes were all the rage. At full tire pressure, this thing rides street like butter, and at lowered tire pressure it bounces along potholes, gravel, rocks, tree trunks, etc, with a nice cushion. Smooth shifting and reliable brakes. Barry told me he used to ride the bike to the train station, train down to the south bay, let out some pressure and hit the mountain bike trails. It’s a super fun bike to ride. Looks like a cruiser but can handle some serious terrain.

She also included all the details I needed, including all the extra parts this thing was coming with. Pump, undersaddle bag, spare tube, patch kit, multitool (with chain tool included)… the works.

And Emma had seen the projector work in person! No need for a test drive, because she’s been over for movie nights before and enjoyed the wall-sized experience it offers. We shook on it, even though we’re not supposed to. Washed our hands right away, then cooked some ramen together and chilled for a bit.

I’m so happy with this trade, if a little nostalgic for that projector. It accompanied many beautiful date nights, snuggly evenings, friends gatherings, and solo horrorshows. It was quietly a consistent presence in my life for a long time. That part of my life is over now, though, and I’m so glad a good friend will be enjoying this reliable machine.

Onward. Forward. Changes aplenty.

Digital movie projector line:
Original item value: $250
Number of trades to date: 1
Latest trade: Digital movie projector ($250) for 1994 Specialized Stumpjumper Chromo Steel Mountain Bike ($450)
Total line value dollar increase: $200
Total line value percent increase: 80%

Not a whole lot to say about this trade. Steve (not his real name) saw the guitar posted on Facebook and offered this amp. I poked around online to see what those models go for, and, at least according to Reverb, it looked like a promising trade if it was in good shape. It looks like these amps go for anywhere from $700-$1,100 when in good condition. I was interested.

I gathered Walker again, my go-to for all things guitar-related, and we set out to have a look. Steve is a retired guy, incredibly friendly, and he had several guitars and a whole stack of amps waiting for us. Wanting to make sure we knew what the Super-Sonic could do, he was sure to play it LOUD.

He loved the guitar, kept raving about how straight the neck was. He played some blues riffs and noodled around, and finally we shook on it (well, we bumped elbows on it. “Ebola bump,” he called it).

Ebola bump to you, Steve. Thanks for the trade, and for supporting the project. (Steve was kind and was sure to tell me that the guitar was overpriced. “That’s… the point, though,” I told him, and he understood. The amp, after all, had just been sitting unused in his basement for a year or so. This was good for both of us.)

1984 Mercier Le Velo line:
Original item value: $200
Number of trades to date: 2
Latest trade: Custom Epiphone/Gibson Les Paul guitar ($350) for Fender Super-Sonic 60w amp head ($800)
Total line value dollar increase: $600
Total line value percent increase: 300%

This one was not easy.

Maybe a day after making my initial posts, Tanner (not his real name) emailed me through Craigslist asking if I’d be interested in trading the motorcycle for his Mercedes. He’d included some fuzzy photos of the exterior, shot from the back (screenshots from his photos app, instead of the photos themselves, lol), and it looked OK so far. I asked for more info and more photos, including the interior, and after a day or so he obliged. It looked sharp, clean, and well-maintained. I was interested.

Meeting up with Tanner was a project in itself. We agreed on a day and time, which then was pushed to later, and then I got a text saying he was free sooner, and then no, hold on, traffic is pretty bad, and then nothing for a day and a half and onward like that. There was a lot of management done on my side but he did continue to seem interested, which was encouraging.

After all the back-and-forth, eventually we did manage to meet up. He brought the car, I brought the bike, and we’d do a mutual test drive where I’d follow him. He told me he was excited to ride it; he has a 250 and was looking forward to feeling a bigger bike.

For those less familiar with motorcycles, the distinction between a motorcycle with 250 cubic centimeters of displacement and one with 750cc is a very aggressive one. And the Ducati Monster line in particular is designed to be both light and strong, even compared to other bikes with similar engine sizes. All of which is to say: this is a powerful bike.

That much was clear to him. After a 15-minute ride through winding tunnels and industrial parks, he dismounted and it looked like he’d had something akin to a sexual experience. He was down. He was very, very down. We didn’t have titles with us so couldn’t do the trade immediately, but we made a verbal agreement and would dot the I’s in the next couple days. (Incidentally, his car drove very smoothly for me, was roomy and comfy inside, and included like 3 million bells and whistles. It was a good trade for both of us.)

Things were looking so good. And then…

I’m staying at a friend’s house right now while apartment hunting, and I parked the bike to look at a few listings ahead of a viewing I was heading to. The bike had been parked for no longer than 40 minutes when I returned to find it upright but askew, a run of fuel down its left side, a giant gouge in the tank, bent handlebars, broken blinker, broken blinker controls, and a snapped foot peg.

Someone had backed into it, knocked it over, and stood it back up again. It wasn’t rideable.

I was in complete and utter disbelief. It’s been a tough run these previous weeks but things were looking up with this trade. This was a gut punch I really didn’t need. I was sure I’d just lost the most valuable asset and piece of leverage I had in this entire project.

I talked to the owner of the car parked in front of the bike. She denied hitting it and I didn’t have any sort of proof. So, I took my truck and saw the apartment, called my insurance company, and texted Tanner.

Somehow, he was still interested. He is a pretty mechanically-minded guy and wasn’t particularly troubled by the damage I described. I think probably all told the fixes would coast about $1,000-$1,500, less if you don’t mind a bent handlebar or a dented and scratched tank. I was clear with him on that.

We went back and forth some more. I was surprised he was still so interested, but he had loved the ride and really wanted that bike. After some more scheduling issues and some commitment back-and-forth on his end, we agreed on a final trade time. A friend and I loaded the bike up into my truck (I wasn’t riding a broken bike over the Bay, and wasn’t gonna let him do that, either), and we delivered it.

We swapped titles, signed off, shook hands (inadvisable these days but still seemed the right thing to do), and that was that. My friend drove the Mercedes, I drove my truck, and now I have a new thing to trade.

And the car, for its part, is fine. Could use some new brake pads, and there are a few mechanical issues that don’t affect driveability (e.g. one of the door’s power locks needs to be fixed). And there’s some window tint that I’m not into. It definitely seems like a car that belonged to kid in college. He told me it’s worth around $4,000, and from what I’ve seen in driving it and in researching comparable models for sale in the area, I believe that.

Because I’m also trading the truck, I may keep this car a while as my primary means. I also may sell it for something that feels more comfortable to me–I don’t need all the fancy features this offers, and have ideas about what I might want in a car for the next few years. Either way, this worked out fine, it was a relief, and the bit of insurance money I’ll get from the bike will help me furnish my next apartment and pay down some debt. So, all’s well that ends well, I suppose. I didn’t have to scrap my beloved (cursed?) bike and still got a nice working car out of it.

(A word on valuation: At the bottom of these posts I’m keeping track of each trading line and including dollar and percent increases since the origin. I think the resale value of the Ducati dropped from about $2,800 to probably around $1,000 once it was damaged. I don’t think I could have sold it for more than that. That will be reflected below.)

Phew. Onward. I’m so relieved that that’s done.

1999 Ducati Monster 750 Dark trading line:
Original item value: $2,800 / $1,000
Number of trades to date: 1
Latest trade: 1999 Ducati Monster 750 Dark ($2,800/$1,000) for 2002 Mercedes Benz S430 ($3,200)
Total line value dollar increase: $2,200
Total line value percent increase: 220%