Contemplating The Road

We're making our blog-rounds in a leisurely fashion this morning while taking our morning coffee and letting our mind wander here and there.  Mostly there... as the time for our road trip is fast approaching and may arrive much sooner than we initially thought.  SN1 is running me hard to go out to Pittsburgh via Columbia, SC... the long way home, so to speak... and I told him I'd consider it.  That would mean making the trip last the better part of a month and there are minor logistics hurdles to overcome, but we shall not bore you with those.  Still and even, I AM considering the southern swing.  But there's this, too:

Be It Ever So Humble...

…there’s no place like home. I’m there, and it’s an understatement to say I’m pleased. My own bed. My own PC. My own stuff. Getting away is nice, visiting with friends and family is nicer still, but getting back home? Priceless.

I ended as I began, which is to say I covered a whole lotta ground in one sitting. The first day of the trip saw me riding 577.6 miles in 11 hours flat; yesterday I did 591 miles in ten hours and 21 minutes. The difference? Better weather…much better weather. I dodged a bullet, though…a half hour after I got home the frickin’ bottom dropped out and we were inundated with rain. I held my breath, figuratively speaking, for the last 100 miles of the ride. There were HUGE thunderstorms to the east and the south of me as I closed in on P-Town, and it looked like I was gonna be in for it. The gods smiled on me, though, and although I got a smattering or two of rain, it was nothing serious. Fortune, for once, was on MY side.

Oh. Total mileage for the trip: 2267.7 miles. And not even one close call. That last statement just may be the most amazing thing of all.

I only did three things last evening after I got home: returned SN2’s phone call (he rang while I was on the road), took a long hot shower, and fell into bed. And I slept the sleep of the truly exhausted. This morning I feel fine, well-rested, and refreshed. Now I have to get on with life…unpack, pay the bills, and do other assorted things that have gone undone for the past 17 days. Normal blogging, such as it is, will resume tomorrow. In the meantime…

Today’s Pic: The first of perhaps six or eight pics from Arches National Park. I like this particular photo because it shows the scale of the monoliths, which are absolutely HUGE. Note the road winding into the distance and the small dots that are the cars on said road. Riding among, through and between these formations is an awe-inspiring experience.

Saturday, June 2, 2007.

Do you get the feeling I was glad to be home, Gentle Reader?  Well, you'd be oh-so-correct if you answered in the affirmative.   But then again, we'll be doing THIS trip in The Green Hornet, complete with CD player and air conditioning, not to mention much more room to wiggle around in... which we sorely (no pun, much) need in our old age.  It will be a much different sort of experience than our last major road trip, when we looked like this:

And THAT, Gentle Reader, is more than likely the last time I'll do any sort of long-distance riding.  Unless I get a new mount.  Miss Zukiko just ain't made for serious road trippin', unlike The Zuki (pictured) which was quite good at that sort o' thing, actually.