Thursday 5/10

Hectic, but not too bad. I woke up around 8 am, got showered, dressed, out the door around 9 and up to the college where I picked up my REAL diploma...



and changed my address. Then it was off to Keva Juice for a nice Red Bull smoothie :) There's something that I'll miss! After that I went over to Circuit City and picked up a DVD burner for the Dentist's office (I do some PC support work occasionally) and went out to install it and make sure that everything worked OK.

I make my way home from the Dentist's place .. by this time it's nearly 4pm -- where'd the day go!? Start packing... I think I've thrown out half the house by now... 3 computer monitors (kinda working, very fuzzy, junk), 2 computers (old stuff, not really worthy of donation), LOTS of cords and cables, old books, notebooks and other schoolwork.... MAD old PCI and ISA modems, sound and video cards and various other PC parts -- old school bits of SDRAM, a 5.25" floppy drive (ya, the real floppy disks) -- just junk I've been collecting for way too long.

What a day. Dave stopped in just as I had finished throwing away nearly all my old PC parts and we decided to go get a Greg's Pizza.. apparently they're the 'famous' pizza place in JC -- Rick mentioned told me that I couldn't leave town without trying one... and yes, AWESOME pizza man! A few welcome phone calls from friends -- Brandon and Jay stopped by to sign the picture that everyone from CRR chipped in to get me for a going away present (they were unable to make yesterday night's photo signing. I'LL SOOOOO MISS ALL YOU GUYS!!!

Then Dave and I started digging into the route planning a bit deeper. At some point during all of this Dave gets up and says something like "Man, I'm gonna miss that view, It'll never be like that again." To which I respond "Well, I'll miss it (looking at the blue ridge just over campus -- a view which I have too often overlooked in the 5 years living in Johnson City)... but you'll be back to see it again!" He looks directly at me and says "No, I mean that beautiful line of vehicles in the parking lot!" I crack a smile and hand him my camera phone...

From left to right... Dave's 600RR, My R6, My truck, Dave's S2000, (the blank spot there belongs to my Lumina), and Dave's Civic. We rule this parking lot :)


BTW -- thanks to everyone who chipped in with route ideas and landmarks...
here's what we've got so far:

Corporate Summary

1) Johnson City, TN to Kansas City, MO 836 mi.
2) Kansas City, MO to Mt. Rushmore 727 mi.
3) Mt. Rushmore to Devils Tower 131 mi.
4) Devils Tower to Sheridan, WY 165 mi.
5) Sheridan, WY to Old Faithful. 266 mi.
6) Old Faithful to North Cascades National Pk. 741 mi.
7) N Cascades National Pk. to Tumwater, WA 188 mi.

Activities Breakdown

Saturday 5/12/07:
1) Johnson City, TN to Kansas City, MO 836 mi.
*St. Louis Arch

Sunday 5/13/07:
2) Kansas City, MO to Mt. Rushmore 727 mi.
*Get near Mt. Rushmore and camp for the night

Monday 5/14/07:
*See Mt. Rushmore
3) Mt. Rushmore to Devils Tower 131 mi.
*See Devils Tower
4) Devils Tower to Sheridan, WY 165 mi.

Tuesday 5/15/07:
5) Sheridan, WY to Old Faithful. 266 mi.
*Ride US-14 through the Bighorns
*Make camp, stay night at Old Faithful

Wednesday 5/16/07:
*Ride Yellowstone Park
*Ride to Grand Teton Mtn.
*Return to camp at Old Faithful

Thursday 5/17/07
6) Old Faithful to North Cascades National Pk. 741 mi.
*Find hotel near Cascades

Friday 5/18/07
*Camp in Cascades National Park

Saturday 5/19/07
*Camp in Cascades National Park

Sunday 5/20/07
*Camp in Cascades National Park

Monday 5/21/07
7) N Cascades National Pk. to Tumwater, WA 188 mi.

Tuesday 5/22/07
*Fly / Ride to San Francisco (Depending on my energy level)

Until tomorrow -0-
Friday's Todo list:
1. Northern Tools for a higher plate mounting bracket and a set of bearing buddies (and a grease gun)
2. Install bearing buddies, load them up w/ grease
3. Finish Packing
4. Laundry
5. Dishes / Kitchen Cleaning
6. Load the truck bed
7. Do a few wheelies w/ Dave's RR
8. Load the bikes
9. Double check everything
10. GOTO sleep.

Photo Signing

lol. great night everyone -- thanks soooo much. Believe it or not you guys really are the reason that I made it through graduate school.... just knowing that I could hop on the bike almost any time and head to the store was enough most of the time -- and when it wasn't -- time to skip some class !!

LOL... obviously the latter didn't happen too often, but you guys really have been a huge part of my life the past year or two and I want to make sure you all knew just how big a part that was. Some of the best memories of my life are from that Valley and the friendships that I made there.

Sincerest Thanks to everyone!! Ya'll be good now, ya hear!? lol, a last bit of drawl for everyone there :)

Here's a few pics from the signing.

Wes & I cutting the cake (Rick was wanting to know which of us was the bride.. lol) Dave and Kim (owners of the Shady Valley Country Store made Wes and I a cake and fed us all ice cream!! Unfortunately I don't have a pic of either of them ;( They're so awesome for letting us characters hang out there day in / day out... taking care of us, patching us up when we crash...


... and some pics of all the hooligans (those that could make it)

Lane, Jason, Troy, Chris, Charlotte.


Table 1(closer): Me (yellow stripes), Henry, Tara, Leslie, Steph, Tim ..
Table 2: Joel, Dave (dave2), Jess, Wess, Tara, Mike, Chad, Troy, Chris... no one ever could get the chick in the back to talk to us ;(


Table 1(closer): Jason, Troy, Mike, Tanya, Wes, Jess, Chris
Table 2: Dave2, Tim, Wendy


Chris, Jason, Troy, and that stuck-up -- "bored" or whatever she was blond that wouldn't speak to anyone.


Notice the difference in photo quality here... this is where my camera phone takes over instead of Rick's 4 gazillion dollar setup! But, someone had to get a shot of the shot taker :) -- Leslie, Rick, Jess, Troy.


Henry, Tara, Rick, Leslie, Wes, Steph, Joel


Pic of a pic :) Thanks again everyone!!

No real update tonight...

I'm tired... been a long day, I'll post details tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who made it out for the photo signing -- It was a really fun time, great to see everyone one last time before I leave.

Route Planning 1

So -- I'm having one hell of a time trying to figure out which awesome sights I just HAVE to see. I mean I know I definitely want to see the Tetons, Rushmore and Devil's Tower, and possibly a bit more in Yellowstone, but I'm not entirely sure beyond those things.

So, if anyone out there reading this can think of something cool along that northerly route POST UP in the comments on this blog entry and let me know!! Google maps has a cool little interface -- you can click the 'link to this page' button in the top right of the screen, copy the address from the address bar and paste it into a comment!

Here's an example showing the initial route -- anything along this route is good -- unless there's something spectacular that I just can't miss for which I might consider a more southerly route.

Almost done...

... with the trailer that is! I ran around everywhere today!! I got Northern to sign / notarize the 'certificate of origin' so that I could register the trailer and then returned that crazy heavy ramp. Then I went over to Lowes and got some mounting hardware and spray-paint for the wheel chocks, then by the dentist's office and wound up having to reschedule his DVD burner install b/c he was so booked up this evening.

Dave (my roomate), Devin and I then went out to Amigos for dinner on the deck since it was so nice out... after which Dave and I went on to Ken's to load both bikes on the trailer, position the wheel chocks and install them.

I painted the chocks a semi-gloss black



...and several broken bits later (turns out that widening a hole in metal can be a bit tough -- yes, we drilled the original holes too small)


... one more...


...we got them all mounted up!

A shot from the front...


and one from the back...

The Trailer

Well, it's coming together. I took some pics this evening of it with the floor all finished, and one of of the tie-down hooks mounted. We've still got a fair amount of work to left to do though.

I bought some angle-iron from Lowes to build wheel chocks from, figured it'd be easy to weld two pieces together to form a U channel to act as a stop for the front tires. So, my Uncle Kenny took the steel channel to work and did some cutting and bending... then brought it home and we welded the pieces together to form a nice channel.

Of course... we never did check to see that the tire would fit.. DOH! Of course it didn't. Leave it up to me to think that it was plenty wide enough w/o actually measuring! Anyway, we took a massive ball peen hammer and knocked the crap out of the sides of the channel, now a U channel after having been welded, so that the tire finally fit.

The bonus is that we got a nice, tight (but no too tight) fit for the front tire that we never would have got had we measured and just bought a steel filler.... and I didn't wind up spending money on more material :)

After we got the channel dimensions right we then realized that neither of us had remembered to buy fasteners for the chocks! Oops. By this time it's starting to get dark out, and we both figure that it's time to call it a day.

Just realized that I never posted any pics of the trailer thus far... so here ya go!


another angle...


and the chocks... pic taken late, bad camera phone, no flash.


another angle...



So, on the list for tomorrow --
1. Northern Tools to return the ramp I bought (almost 100lbs all by itself -- found a MUCH lighter ramp for about the same $$ at Lowes) and have them sign the darned 'Certificate of Origin' so that I can register the darn thing and get a plate (see previous post).

2. Off to Lowes to buy the other ramp, wheel chock fasteners and some black spray paint (cause those chocks are steel and will probably rust in a heartbeat!).

3. To the courthouse again, leaving this time with a trailer tag!

4. The dentist's house for a (hopefully quick) dinner and DVD Burner Installation (Yes, I trade dental work for PC Tech Support).

5. Ken's place to hopefully finish up the trailer.

Who Knew?

...titling a trailer could be such a pain. Bought the frame from Northern Tools yesterday for $300 and they provided a 'certificate of origin' and told me all I needed to get a tag was to head down to the courthouse to pickup a tag.

Well, turns out that they forgot to sign the darn thing (a little spot on the back of the certificate)... and I forgot to bring the receipt (to prove I paid sales tax). So, my morning trip to get a trailer tag has turned into a 'tomorrow' trip to get a trailer tag b/c it's too nice out not to go riding for a bit.

Thankfully the courthouse wasn't busy at all...


and of course... parking a motorcycle is never difficult anyway :)

All done, graduated.

It's been a long road... 2 years to be precise (as precise as I want to be anyway) and I'm finally done. I wanted to quit several times, the monotony was driving me insane -- why didn't I just go get a job to begin with!!?? Anyway, somehow I managed to finish and I'm now a master of computer science (for whatever that's worth... .they tell me it's about 10k, but we'll just have to see about that).

I've got a wild hair -- always have had this hair -- it's stayed with me for quite a while, keeping cool, hanging out, turning gray. Well, it finally got so bloody irritated that it demanded my attention! I'm pulling up stakes and moving out west. It's something that I've wanted to do since not long after graduating high-school.... but have never had the guts to do. It's finally time -- now is the best time, no attachments, not too many worries (at least not for a decent while) and a family that's crazy enough (or cool, caring, loving, supportive or whatever enough) to buy me a beautiful red pickup truck (here) w/ a towing package so that I can get myself and my motorcycle across the country! Very necessary since the old 'roomina' (as it was called by a few of my friends) has blown a gasket somewhere (either intake or head we're pretty sure). So, i'm trying to sell it -- for whatever I can get, who knows.

Ah, the west coast.. the left coast, whatever you like to call it..... My kid sister (kat/katie -- she has been calling herself kat for many years, though I've always called her kate) made the move years ago, and has managed to adjust quite well. So well in-fact that she's agreed (maybe she's just crazy -- j/k, love u sis) to allow me to live with her and her husband until I find work out there!! So, it's Seattle bound for me! Well, Tumwater,WA actually.. a small town about 1.5-2 hours south of Seattle along I5. They have an apartment there with an extra bedroom that I'll be leasing for a (hopefully -- not that I don't love you and all sis.. but u know) short time until I'm able to get my feet under me. VERY COOL! Not to mention the sailboat that they have moored and take out every weekend :)

Anyway -- My hope is to sort-of keep a pseudo journal online for everyone who's interested in this little trip I'm getting ready to embark on. I expect we'll be stopping by internet-enabled / wireless-enabled cafes along the way, or at least a hotel (whenever we need showers and don't feel like camping) in which I can provide updates and some pictures of events since the last posting.

So.. here's the 1st post. We (Dad, Uncle Kenny and I -- well, to their credit mostly Dad and Kenny) moved out all of my bedroom furniture from the apartment today. Kenny decided that It'd be better than what he currently has.. and since I didn't make any real attempt to sell it private party -- it's best to see it stay w/in the family. Kinda sad to see it all go... that was the 1st (and only) bedroom set I ever owned -- mom and dad bought it for me back in 1984!! Or course the queen-size bed I bought later... lol., but anyway, that stuff'd been with me for quite a while! Now I'm staring at an empty room...


Realizing that I'll be sleeping here for the next week until this trip gets underway (when the accommodations move to somewhere in the pickup, or in a tent :).