Leaving Salt Lake, I was left with a fairly mellow drive through to Denver. The truck survived. The trailer didn't so much. By the end, both sides of the axle were bent, one severely. Any attempt at waterproofing was moot, and I just wanted to get there. Nothing fell off, or was damaged, but I don't think I'll ever do that again.
I got into Denver in just enough time to dig out the leathers, and do what Dave and I do when we get together : go race motorcycles. Dave's been participating in the Colorado supermoto series, and invited me to tag along for the round. Now, in retrospect, I really should have just slept in and organized my stuff. It was fun to be out on a supermoto, but the track kindof sucked, and I ended up crashing hard enough in the first heat race I didn't feel comfortable continuing (minor head trauma, saw stars, etc.) Dave crashed out of second in his first heat race, injuring his ankle and making the rest of his day both painful and disappointing. Oh, and 48 hours isn't apparently enough to acclimate to the altitude. I was sucking wind after about 10 minutes on the bike. Well, this is about par for the course when the Price brothers go racing, so no one should be surprised.
I don't want to dwell on work, so I wont, but it's going to be a good gig for me. Lowish effort, and my concerns about my ability to do the work are easing.
I did give in and buy a new computer. The four plus year old macbook wasn't cutting it anymore, and Apple had some good deals on their refurb site. I'm now using a 15" Macbook pro as my primary computer. It gives up about half a pound to the plastic fantastic that I was using, but Eclipse and Ableton sure are pretty with all these pixels.
Tomorrow starts my first real weekend in about a month. Looking forward to some relaxation. Time to go see Denver a bit, find a coffee shop and organize the last of my crap.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Continuing the Trip Story
So after a quite late start, I was beginning to regret my decision to take on a passenger (hey a tank of gas is a tank of gas). When I started following the directions to out meet up spot, I really regretted it. Due to construction and small towns, the agreed upon grocery store ended up being an hour or so out of my way....just in time to catch traffic through Portland. I have lost many of the details to sleep deprivation, but I'm pretty sure there were a couple of personality disorders happening in my passenger seat. Hey, at least I had someone to talk at me while I drove all night...
A hectic start to the trip quickly settled into a delightful stay with my friends Erik and Amy (the folks behind BadgerTrek) in Salt Lake. A much needed nap and early bedtime preceded a really great day riding motorcycles with Erik. Erik has built one of the finest motorcycles I've seen, and certainly the best sport bike I've ever had the pleasure of riding. You can read about the details on the web site, but it's a real work of art, both to look at and to experience. There's something particular about the roads in and around the rocky mountains that really has to be experienced on two wheels. Clean pavement, crisp air and spectacular views. Perhaps it has to do with growing up in this part of the country, or maybe it's the contrast with Seattle, but the big sky and winding mountain roads are always good to me.
Erik and Amy were very gracious hosts, and I appreciate their hospitality and the advice/experience on traveling. I'm sure I'll be back to Salt Lake before the end of my traveling.
A hectic start to the trip quickly settled into a delightful stay with my friends Erik and Amy (the folks behind BadgerTrek) in Salt Lake. A much needed nap and early bedtime preceded a really great day riding motorcycles with Erik. Erik has built one of the finest motorcycles I've seen, and certainly the best sport bike I've ever had the pleasure of riding. You can read about the details on the web site, but it's a real work of art, both to look at and to experience. There's something particular about the roads in and around the rocky mountains that really has to be experienced on two wheels. Clean pavement, crisp air and spectacular views. Perhaps it has to do with growing up in this part of the country, or maybe it's the contrast with Seattle, but the big sky and winding mountain roads are always good to me.
Erik and Amy were very gracious hosts, and I appreciate their hospitality and the advice/experience on traveling. I'm sure I'll be back to Salt Lake before the end of my traveling.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Moving out and Moving On
The last week has been punishingly busy. I have...
Replaced rear axel seals, rear brakes, fluids, etc. on the truck
Final apartment pack up
Cleaned apartment
Loaded Trailer
Said goodbyes to everyone
The trailer I bought to save money on the trip, continues to be a hassle. The night before I was planning to leave Seattle, Tim and I figured out the tires were the wrong size...after we had it full of stuff...at about 9pm......fuck. Disconnect the trailer, head north to stay with a friend, and deal with the situation tomorrow. Luckly, or so I thought, Discount Tire opens at 8am. Four, four and a half hours late, but that's still not bad. This was not to be.
Wakeup came at 7am, and I rolled out, first in line at the tire store, they had the tires I needed, but not the rims. After a bunch of rigamarole that went something like "no we don't have them, yes we have them, the computer says we have them but we can't find them" the rims ended up coming down from Lynwood, three hours later. Finally, finally rolled out of Seattle around noon. Now, I'm running seven hours behind. Best case puts me at my next stop somewhere around 8am the next morning.
There'll be more to the story later, but now it's time for bed. I'll leave you with this thought : I hope the axel doesn't bend too much more before Denver.
Replaced rear axel seals, rear brakes, fluids, etc. on the truck
Final apartment pack up
Cleaned apartment
Loaded Trailer
Said goodbyes to everyone
The trailer I bought to save money on the trip, continues to be a hassle. The night before I was planning to leave Seattle, Tim and I figured out the tires were the wrong size...after we had it full of stuff...at about 9pm......fuck. Disconnect the trailer, head north to stay with a friend, and deal with the situation tomorrow. Luckly, or so I thought, Discount Tire opens at 8am. Four, four and a half hours late, but that's still not bad. This was not to be.
Wakeup came at 7am, and I rolled out, first in line at the tire store, they had the tires I needed, but not the rims. After a bunch of rigamarole that went something like "no we don't have them, yes we have them, the computer says we have them but we can't find them" the rims ended up coming down from Lynwood, three hours later. Finally, finally rolled out of Seattle around noon. Now, I'm running seven hours behind. Best case puts me at my next stop somewhere around 8am the next morning.
There'll be more to the story later, but now it's time for bed. I'll leave you with this thought : I hope the axel doesn't bend too much more before Denver.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Long Weekend, Party Time
Just marking time before the real trip begins at this point, but I did have a highlight last weekend that will hopefully set the tone for my travels. My really good friend Jason (aka Zombie J) invited me down to San Francisco for the Raindance festival. I always put full trust into J to know where the party's at, so I immediately booked a ticket and as the time approached, couldn't wait to get out the door. The details shall remain sketchy, but I had an incredible time meeting and getting to hang out with some really great people. For a little taste of how we roll, check this out.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Test
This is a test of the blogging system. This is only a test. In the event of an actual blog post please stop reading and do something useful with your time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
