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| All the Essentials! |
Hester is packed and ready! Me? I've been ready for
months now. It’s the same old
story. It seems like there’s plenty of
time to get everything done and then suddenly, the trip is just days away and
there are still loose ends. To me, that
last minute frenzy is part of the fun and it heightens the excitement for the
event. Fortunately, the logistics for
this trip are much simpler than those for my Alaskapade adventure. Any trip, be it Alaska
or Kansas,
essentially requires two planning elements; logistics and finances. Logistically, Shark Week is pretty much a no
brainer. If noting else, the existence
of paved roads, near ubiquitous cellular service, and gas stations at regular
intervals make this trip far less complicated than was Alaska. Funding is a different story as I try to make
trips like these a cash experience. In
that pursuit, I’ve performed hours of massage work, played band gigs, and done
a little data networking on the side; all to fund my SWIV trip with cash. I’m cashing in hotel points where I can, but
am staying at the host hotel while in Maine. Half the fun of Shark Week is hanging out
with the gang for the nightly bullshit sessions. Staying at the host hotel also offers better
bike security and the expertise of fellow riders in case technical/mechanical
help is needed.
I’m sure there are things I’ve forgotten. There always are, but I believe I have the
priority elements covered. All I need to
do is wake up, saddle up, and ride. My
GPS is loaded with audiobooks, tunes, and even a few routes. I also velcro’d my Sirius satellite radio to
my fuel tank console so I can satiate my inner talk radio junkie. Even on vacation, that four-letter word that
ends in K crops up….WORK. I’ll be taking
my work laptop because I couldn’t make thus trip were it not for my job at IBM
and vacation or not, I’ll need to check in now and then to at least keep up. The trade off there is that I can update this
blog as time permits.
Anyone interested in my trip progress can follow along by
using the link below. I will activate the tracking upon my departure. You can switch to satellite view and zoom in to see the terrain details. There’s a message
feature, so don’t hesitate to say hi. Understand
that I can’t reply while I’m riding.
Also, updates while I’m in Canada
will be delayed as I will disable mobile data from my phone while I’m outside
the US.
I’ll update my position and the route
trails when I find Wi-Fi hotspots.
This will be a long day.
