It's that time

[NobodySpecific]

The car is packed, the apartment is empty, the loose ends are tied, and I'm ready to hit the road. I'm gonna do a short day and try to make it a little past Salt Lake City tonight. Then I have no plan until Sunday, when I'm going to stop at my dad's house in Portville, NY. Then I should be back in Burlington on Monday. I'll be taking route 80 most of the way, which I heard is a riveting drive through the majestic expanses of Nebraska (). 5 days, 2,600 (+/-) miles, 40 hours of driving.

Things that can go wrong:

* Speeding Ticket (not likely since my car is so weighed down I'll be lucky to do the speed limit)

* Animal Encounter (scares the shit out of me)

* Car Break-in (I really really really really don't want all my stuff stolen. It has happened to me once before, so I'm nervous)

* Car Breakdown (car has less than 10,000 miles, so it should be rock solid)

* Car Accident (I have a shit ton of energy drinks and food, and I'm not afraid to stop if I get tired. This is no gumball 3000)


So if you don't hear from me, then assume the worst and assemble a search party. I could be anywhere between Boise, ID and Burlington, VT, so make sure you get a lot of people. Hopefully I'll see most of you on Tuesday at Bike Night (in the cage, but I get one free pass)

[markbvt]

Have a good trip, Keith. See you soon.

--mark

[noxin]

Oh, you so should Gumball it! That'd rock

[Doc]

We might be able to get you a bike to borrow.

[Woodsy]

i did 5 hours on I-90 the other day from burlington ma to liverpool ny and that was a shit drive. good luck to you.

[NobodySpecific]

So I wanted to make it 6 hours or so, and instead I did 10.5 hours and 670 miles. Spending the night in Laramie, WY. Crap it's late.

[ThisBitch]

PUSSY! I made it from NH to San Jose in 2.5 days!

I kid.. I don't know, everyone told me 80 sucked too, but I found it pretty cool, especially all the wind farms. Make sure you stop at the world's largest truck stop, its pretty cool.

[markbvt]

So I wanted to make it 6 hours or so, and instead I did 10.5 hours and 670 miles.

Yeah, long road trips have a way of doing that. Drove out to Colorado from DC in March 1995 with a friend for a week of snowboarding; on the way back we just wanted to get home, so we just kept going the first day and made it a little bit east of the Mississippi before we finally stopped for the night. Slept in the car for a few hours, then hit the road again in the morning and made it home by about 7pm on day 2. Long-ass drive.

Kansas is fucking boooorrrriiing!

--mark

[MotoFreak]

Can't wait to see ya Keith, drive safe!

[NobodySpecific]

Day 2 I did 13 hours total, 12 hours of driving, an hour for getting gas and whatnot, plus the lost hour cuz of the time zone change. I did like 865 miles. That puts me 675 miles or so from my dad's house. Staying in Geneseo, Illinois for the night. I should be back in Burlington on Sunday!

[NobodySpecific]

We might be able to get you a bike to borrow.

I'm not riding the YSR!

[dhuze]

Day 2 I did 13 hours total, 12 hours of driving, an hour for getting gas and whatnot, plus the lost hour cuz of the time zone change. I did like 865 miles. That puts me 675 miles or so from my dad's house. Staying in Geneseo, Illinois for the night. I should be back in Burlington on Sunday!

Thats only one long drive( about 18 hours), so you should be back in one day.

[NobodySpecific]

Day 3 was a bitch for traffic (got stuck near Chicago for an hour because I guess a trailer wanted to burn for awhile), but I still made it in just under 12 hours to my dad's house. I have to go visit some family up north tomorrow and then head back to Burlington, so it will take me a bit longer than I anticipated, but they are moving to Florida this winter and I spent many summers up at their house so I gotta go say goodbye to them and the house.

Total today was 680 miles, putting me at 2,210 miles so far for the trip, in like 58 hours. Every part of me hurts. And now my sleep schedule is fucked, so it's 2:30 and I'm still pretty awake. And I'm in a house with 5 kids. And my bedroom has no door. Thank god for caffeine, cuz I'm gonna need it tomorrow.

[markbvt]

That whole mess of urban shit south of the Great Lakes is best avoided. I'll probably be meeting my friend Tito in Idaho in June 2011 to ride up to Alaska -- he wants to do an 8-week trip, I can only do 4, so I'll be slabbing it out west to meet up with him. I intend to head through Canada, north of the Great Lakes, and then drop back into the US in North Dakota or someplace. I can't deal with trying to ride through that tangled mess of urban traffic to the south.

--mark

[NobodySpecific]

That whole mess of urban shit south of the Great Lakes is best avoided. I'll probably be meeting my friend Tito in Idaho in June 2011 to ride up to Alaska -- he wants to do an 8-week trip, I can only do 4, so I'll be slabbing it out west to meet up with him. I intend to head through Canada, north of the Great Lakes, and then drop back into the US in North Dakota or someplace. I can't deal with trying to ride through that tangled mess of urban traffic to the south.

--mark

That's probably a good call, I really didn't want to deal with customs and a car full of stuff.

Anyway, holy shit. I made it. Were there some guys at WAGS (West Addison General Store) around 8pm? I thought I saw Freak's Ape, but I wasn't sure and I was too tired and too close to home to stop. I'm starving, and I'm pretty sure everybody is closed on a Sunday night, but fuck it, I'm gonna go walking around. See everybody on Tuesday

[Doc]

I'm not riding the YSR!

It takes BIG balls to ride the YSR.

[markbvt]

Welcome home, Keith!

--mark

[MotoFreak]

Keith's back! Alright!

[NobodySpecific]

Awww yeah. The battery was so toast that the charger was useless, but one battery and one push later she fired right up. No hesitation whatsoever. The tires are also still in great shape. I just gotta get it registered and I'll be good to go. No bike night for me next week though, I gotta get the keys and move some stuff into my new place. I will be itching to go for a ride over to T road soon though.

[markbvt]

As it happens, I've got an Adirondacks ride in the works next Saturday which will, of course, include T Rd. I'll post details early next week.

--mark

[MotoFreak]

Mmmhmmmm, T Rd baby...if you have time during the week Keith, Bread, Slyder and I will certainly head over with ya!

[Slyder]