BeMused

It’s almost pointless for me to be at work.

I can’t focus on anything right work-related right now. I’ve even found myself having a hard time following my book (Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman) which I managed to finish last night, and only makes the anticipation for my impending trip around this part of the world that much more un-bearable.

This is pretty much the route we’re taking to Sturigs this year. Our western most point will hopefully be Banff, Alberta. It is one of the most picturesque towns I think I’ve ever seen. Granted, I’ve only seen it in pictures, but friends have told me the pictures simply don’t do it justice. Naturally, I’ll have my camera as well as a video camera and hopefully will be recording my journey there. And back, naturally. We’ve yet to decide how we’re coming back, however. We don’t know if we’ll go across the northern part of the states, or drop down into Colorado and then head east from there. We simply haven’t thought that far ahead.

And I think that’s what we (both Jeff and I) are most looking foward to: Not knowing. We don’t know where we’ll be stopping each night. We don’t know how many miles we’re planning on doing each day. Unlike the last time we went to Sturigs in 2001, we have no reservations and no time table. We don’t even plan on staying the whole week in Sturgis and will probably end up arriving in the middle of the week sometime. It’s simply going to be us and our bikes, riding through Canada and the parts of the US. Decompressing and unplugged. It’s going to be a hell of a trip.

Assuming I can make it through the rest of this week….

I, along with the kids, were some of the teeming millions that stood in line all over the world to get the new Harry Potter book that came out on Saturday at 12:01 a.m.. Gail was going out, and the kids (especially Cody) were excited about going down to the local Borders and getting the book right at midnight. I had pre-ordered mine, but I figured both Cody and I needed our own copies.

I actually ordered mine from Amazon back in Febuary, but to this day, it has yet to show. The tracking number that Amazon gave me to track my book through UPS says it’s sitting just down the road. And it’s been there for four days now. So I called UPS. They told me it’s gone on to the local post office to be delivered. Oh joy, I’m never going to get it now. So I’ve got an email into Amazon telling them they need to take care of this. In the meantime, I keep stealing Cody’s book to read. He’s going to be miffed at me when I get home: I lost his place in it last night.

Aside from that, it’s been a great read, with the exception of several typo’s I’ve found. I imagine Scholastic, the book’s publisher here in the States, wanted to get it shipped ASAP, so they rushed the editing. I can overlook a type or three, lord knows I make plenty myself.

10 days, 7 hours, and 15 minutes before vacation. Can you tell I’m anxious?

*tap* *tap* Is this thing on?

Great! Welcome back! And how ya been? Me, I’ve been busy and as a result, the problems that were plauging my site took much longer than I expected to debug. The hardware that Shad’s Pad was residing on went tits up, and in the move to the new box, my database that runs this site didn’t get all the way copied over. Thanks to Dave, I am now back up and running. I’m glad too, I’ve missed writing.

So, what’s been happening? Quite a lot actually. Rolling Thunder/Ride of the Patriots came and went, as discussed in the previous entry, and then school ended. With that, so did Gail’s tenure at the middle school where she’s been working the past three years as an aide to kids with special needs. She wanted to spend more time at home with the kid and with her pottery.

Naturally, after she did that, all hell broke lose. The dryer busted ($$), had to get a new bed for Cody’s room ($$$), the outdoor spigot needed some attention from a plumber ($$), the Trooper suddenly died and needed a new battery and battery cable ($$$) and then not two weeks after I got the Trooper back up and running, Gail was in an accident in it, totalling both the Trooper and the Jaquar that hit her ($$$$$$$….you get the idea).

No one was seriously hurt thank goodness, and that’s what really matters. At least we were insured, and it’s all been taken care of. So now we’re down to one car, and I’m riding the Harley while Gail and I figure out what we want to get.

We probably won’t buy a new car until after I get back from vacation though. Where am I going on vacation? Glad you asked! My buddy Jeff and I are repeating our Journey to Sturgis that we took in 2001, albeit through Canada this time. The plan is to go up through Niagra, travel across to Alberta (with Banff as our western most stop), down through Montana and Wyoming into South Dakota to catch the last half of Sturgis, and then on home. We’re figuring between 5500 and 7000 miles is what we’ll put on the odometers. And we’re taking three weeks to do it. I can’t wait. Countdown has begun! I’ve got my camera, gonna have my journal, and I even have a camera bracket to attach to my bike and use a video camera with, so I’ll have all sorts of stuff to share when I get back (hopefully!).

In the meantime, welcome back me!