odds and ends

well, there's no big news to report, nor anything terribly exciting that's happened to me motorcycle-related, but a lot of little things are falling together as the trip gets closer. a few updates:

i'm almost done purchasing gear for my trip. i picked up a nice atlas today. i was going to buy a bunch of maps, but i saw this big road atlas for $20, that pretty much had everything i needed. it's all in a big enough scale, and the pages are easy to tear out to fit in my map window (i did not test this in the store, but it's spiral-bound). now i can start highlighting! i have some of my routes planned (some by me, some by jimbo, and some by the fact that there are only one or two roads to some of my destinations, and i hate interstates), and the rest will be coming shortly. i still need addresses to many of my nightly stays, but those shouldn't be terribly difficult to obtain. other than that, i just have to buy a tool kit and a sunstrip for my helmet visor. and some camping food.

i've been riding as my main mode of transportation except for hurling with very few exceptions. there were a few days i was really tempted to take the car, but luckily i came up with a genius strategy to help me out. as part of my managerial duties, i have to bring the goal posts to and from games and practices. these are composed of 12 ten foot pieces of 3" PVC piping, which now lives on top of my car. combined with the metal stakes in the back, along with all the other hurling gear, my car now gets awful gas mileage, and can't do parking garages. that means it's far easier to convince myself to take the bike. most of the time i'm glad i did.

i've also enjoyed driving less and less over the past few months. i wouldn't exactly call it claustraphobia, but the air feels really stuffy, and i've been driving with the windows down rain or shine to get some fresh air in there (AC reminds me of airplanes). the fact that i'm only driving big, loaded down SUVs means i'm not exactly getting to drive fast, and so i really have no motivation to take the car, unless i have to pick something up. score one more point for going car-less.

i had a nice ride up to port townsend a few weekends ago. i love taking the ferry on my bike. yes, it's mostly a smug sense of satisfaction that i get to bypass the lines and head right up to the front, but it's fun, damn it! the views on the peninsula were gorgeous as always, and though it was a bit chilly (i caught a bit of rain on the way home), i got to test my new pants and gloves, and they held up admirably. a good purchase, even if i'll be hot as bejeezus down south.

i suppose that's about it. i missed my chance to convoy with charley boorman up in vancouver, BC, since he did it on a monday, and i was working (trust me, with the week i had at work, i would MUCH rather have been riding in BC with charley). oh! and my second dics of "race to dakar" isn't working! that's the second disc of this set that's busted out on me. it's worked before, but now i'm stuck halfway through the series. yeesh. netflix to the rescue, i suppose.

until next time,

rftc,

scott