There and back again

Falling

nomytoy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:40:41 +0000

colors and sights on a warm fall day

Yale

nomytoy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:16:38 +0000

Day 31 – New Haven

nomytoy — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:09:09 +0000

Rain. I can’t get away from it. Rain. I check the weather radar and wait for a break. Rain. A walk to the car rental agency. Rain. I sign a lease. Rain. I have keys. Rain. I have a place to live. Rain. I look for furniture. Rain. 15mph on the freeway with the car loaded down with new stuff. Rain. Pizza for dinner. Rain.

In my new apartment.

It’s hot and humid.

Safe in New Haven.

Rain.

Day 30 – South to Connecticut

nomytoy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:02:13 +0000

Laurie’s Boston brings rain. Laurie’s Boston makes me glad that I’m inside. I don’t get on the bike till noonish after eating the most massive breakfast of the trip. Who would have guessed that of all the American dinners, truck stop restaurants and hole-in-the-wall eateries Boston would be the place that gives me the most for my money. $9 and the Kitchen Sink omelet. The thing hangs off the plate. A second plate is for the potatoes and toast.

4pm in Mystic, CT and I have to look at my phone to make sure it’s after 11am when the restaurant opens. Seriously. Hours after the kitchen sink, I still can’t think.

The night in a hotel just north of New Haven.

Tomorrow will be an end.

Day 29 – Laurie’s Boston

nomytoy — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:53:38 +0000

Three hours to Boston on a good road. I could get used to these free toll roads I was thinking. Then, coming in to Boston I’m forced to fence over $3.85. Who knows what they’re charging these poor folks in cages if a motorcycle has to pay $3.85.

Boston is a horrible place. Horrible I tell you. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

There is seemingly no plan to the city. None! Go ahead and read about it for yourself.

http://www.bu.edu/mfeldman/Boston/tok.html

Still, I manage to make it to Laurie’s place as I watch the weather turn from hot, sweaty and nasty to cool and comfortable in a downpour of rain.

Laurie shows us around and I genuinely feel like a tourist. Seeing as we managed to stay mostly dry, I wish I had brought my camera. Sadly I did not.

Wicked pissa:

I saw it on a shirt. Laurie’s eating so I look it up. It means awesome, but can be used without a verb.

A kid, no more then 8, rides by on his Razor scooter.

Me: trying out my Bostonian, “that thing wicked pissa”

Him: being from Boston, flicked me off as he rode away.

Day 28 – iphone dead: 4 hours to Albany

nomytoy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:43:02 +0000

Four hours to Albany, if I don’t get lost. Four hours to Albany, if it doesn’t rain. Four hours to Albany, if I don’t have any problems. Four hours to Albany, on these horribly bumpy, poorly maintained, pot-hole-ridden, badly in need of resurfacing roads. Surely, this is not a highway.

Twenty minutes of dodging pot holes, avoiding bumps and generally increasing my stress level. Twenty minutes of the worst roads I’ve encountered on this trip. Twenty minutes that made me fear it would be a long four hours to Albany.

The roads improved. Albany came into view. Toll booth.

I’ve made it this far without paying a toll. Not a single toll road. I reach for my wallet and all they want to do is hand me a ticket. I take the ticket, I take the ride.

Into Albany. They want the ticket. The ride must be over. I get waved on. I ask how much. The young woman waves me on. I get the hint. No Charge.

I like these toll roads. Well worth the cost to ride on nicely paved roads.

4.28pm. Arrive at Apple. Check in. Appointment at 5pm. They tell me to take a seat. I feel like I’m at the doctor’s.

5pm. I’ve been kindly waiting. Kindly watching. Kindly ignoring all the people who can’t be bothered to work. If you ever wondered why Apple products cost so much just go into an Apple store and see where your money goes when you buy one of their products.

5.02 they call my name. In my head I’m taking bets on how long this whole process will take. In my head I guess an hour.

5.15 new replacement phone activated and I’m walking out the door.

Regardless of the efficiency of the experience, I never want to go back to an Apple store.

Day 27 – dead Iphone

nomytoy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:36:27 +0000

I let the phone’s battery run out yesterday. The directions told me to do so once in a while. It’s been nearly a month. I was so close. I plugged it in to charge. It charges and charges. All night as I sleep. It still doesn’t have any charge as I wake. It still says it needs to charge.

AT&T store, BFE, Pennsylvania. An hour of my time on their telephone with Apple.

The guy on the phone tells me they can send me a new one, overnight. This briefly excites me, then I forsee the complications. Surely there will be some sort of problem. Surely it won’t arrive until the last possible minute. Surely it will get lost in transit. Surely this will get me stuck in one place for days.

I have to go to an Apple store to let them look at it. The closest one, if I don’t want to backtrack through Pennsylvania, is in Albany NY. That’s 2 hours more today and 4 on the interstate tomorrow.

Albany it is. I will have to get there without any sort of GPS. Without any sort of map. This is old skool traveling.

Day 26 – Car to DC

nomytoy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:27:12 +0000

Rain has holed me up in a hotel. Rain means I need a car. Heading south through Amish country Sarah drives as sheets of rain pour down. On and off all day long she drives south through rain. She’s familiar with this country. She’s familiar with where we’re going.

The historian in me feels like I have to make the trip, if only just to walk around. The Californian in me wonders how people live in this sort of weather. The east coast heat and humidity has hit me full in the face. Not since stepping out of an airport in Taiwan have I had to deal with this kind of full body assault.

DC is sweltering, a word I rarely have any use for. Dampened by the air around me, my clothes cling to my body. A few showers bring slight relief as the temperature seems to drop with the rain.

A long day but a good bed to sleep in in Maryland. Tomorrow I’ll be up early to bring the car back to State College.

Day 25 – Penn State

nomytoy — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:59:52 +0000

Up early. By 8am the Amish were selling baked goods. If I were a family of 5+ I could have bought something. A whole pie, a huge loaf of sweet bread, a bunch of cinnamon rolls, bigger than the pie and bread combined.

The road is clear and dry. Most importantly dry. I run ahead of a storm again. I keep dry.

Sings warn me that this is a “High DUI Crash Area.” To scare me away from drinking and driving another sign warns “DUI, You Can’t Afford It.” I wonder if the monetary cost is a significant deterrent to those who drink and drive.

Still, the ride out is beautiful. The landscape rises and falls with regularity. Trees and lakes, rivers and farms.

Day 24 – Storm chasing in Amish country

nomytoy — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:41:33 +0000

Ohio is falling fast. My back is killing me. I would have never sought words such as burning and stabbing on my own. Still they are boxes that I check on the chiropractors medical history. I pick up an issue of National Geographic. It is from September 2008. Ivan’s work is in this issue. This has to be a good sign.

An hour of adjustments and I hit the road. Pennsylvania shows me yellow road signs that warn me of a horse and buggy.

Rising an falling. Rivers, lakes, farms and trees.The country is beautiful.

KOA’s in this part of the country charge $39 and $35 a night for a tent site. I’ve stayed in motels for less. Apparently it’s expensive to camp in this part of the country.

My mind is preoccupied with staying dry. I move or stay still depending on the rain. Tomorrow will be a short run, but I’ll have to stay ahead of another storm.