Lost Kitty

Ok, it has been a little while since the last post, I've been lax. Many things have happened, most of them not really worth noting. Had my first visit to Florida, if Jacksonville really counts. This city is about as far south as I'd like to go into that state. The Kangaroo fuelstop there has officially beaten the Rawlins WY TA in the nastiest shower contest.



I made it in and out of the sunshine state between hurricanes and made my way slowly back up the east coast to Ohiopyle for the Music in the Mountains festival.


One of the high points of my home visit was the trip to pick up my new bike. Unfortunately that custom drivetrain I had chosen was so custom that it hadn't arrived yet. Add a holiday weekend and it looked like I would be making shipping arrangements. This is always fun when you don't know where you're going to be more than 36 hours in advance.


The Festival weekend in the pyle was nice. The fireworks were better than last year and the music was great. The Hillbilly Gypsies were pickin' and grinnin' at the Pub on Saturday night. The FOO members had an opportunity to spend the night in the old park superintendent's house at the outflow of Meadow run. The house was fantastic but as usual I slept in my Element.


I left PA for VT and it would have been great to take a ride up near Canada, but since I would be meeting Miss Kitty out on the road, and can now only carry 1 bike at a time, I was temporarily bikeless. I worked down the east coast and found myself in Chesapeake 12 hours before yet another Hurricane (I think it was the H one). My Driver manager gave me a choice load to Tracy CA a short 2900 miles away. The drive was nice, cool sleeping weather, and no major fight for parking






I found my new favorite truckstop, the Little America in Flagstaff. Nice and cool at over 7000 ft elevation. good parking and fantastic showers, hell they even have bathtubs. Just down the street is a natural foods store, there are mountain views to the north and bike friendly streets... sigh... yet still no bike in my truck.



I decided it would be a great opportunity to rendezvous with my new bike in California. This started the agonizing task of getting a 25 pound bike delivered to Mountain View Ca. I soon found out that The bike would arrive the day after I left, even considering that I would be spending my 34 hour break at Yosemite after my delivery.






Yosemite was fantastic although the last time I had something other than Crocs or my bike shoes on was... well the last time I was in Yosemite. My brother picked me up around noon and I napped a bit on the way as I had been driving since around midnight. We took a short hike to Lower Cathedral Lake, had great fish tacos just outside the park and headed to camp. I chose the same deluxe accommodations as I did in Joshua Tree, the picnic table. It got down to the high 30's overnight but my Big Agnes bag was toasty warm.

We took a 14 mile hike to Clouds Rest in the morning. I had some minor blistering the day before and really shouldn't be using heavy leather goretex boots in the summer. Anything I used to stop the blisters would sweat off within half a mile. I also use Superfeet insoles which are really nice but they take about 3 days or so of soreness to get used to. My feet were certainly not used to my boots anymore. I was also physically not up to the task of a rough terrain hike to 11,000 feet. The way out was fine but I totally ran out of energy on the way back. The 13th mile was a 1000 ft descent which really sucked. It was all worth it though. From clouds rest you are pretty much at the top of the valley looking down on Half Dome and the Merced River.

As expected, no bike before I headed off for Yuma, so I made arrangements to get routed back that way. I tracked the package and it had been on a delivery truck on Friday. Certainly I would be able to pick it up by Monday. I killed time in Fontana over the weekend and eagerly headed up I-5 to my delivery and new bike. I checked the UPS website and was crushed to find out they were now saying the address was wrong and it would deliver on Tuesday. I would only be in Central CA Monday eve and out again in the morning. After 6 calls to UPS, 5 promised return calls that never happened, and a lot of frustration I finally was able to send my brother to the package center to pick up and bring the bike to me (He is now the coolest brother in the world). On the evening of 9/15/08 I finally got to ride Miss Kitty #5 around Lathrop CA. Wheee!

I went back to Yuma in the morning and started on my way to Albuquerque from there. I only got as far as Barstow that night but I had a little ride in the desert in the morning. The sand all looks the same to me but some of it will suck your front wheel in and cause instantaneous flips over the handlebar. I have found out that all abrasions and cuts obtained in the desert tend to itch like a sumbitch. even with the 29" wheels and fat tires, the mystery sand still got me several times before I headed out to NM. Somewhere out there the desert stole one of my handlebar endcaps. It also has a good bit of skin from my left shin.

I was Surprised at how much fun a singlespeed ended up being. I do wish I had a bit more gear for riding in traffic at times, but it's like back in the day on the ol' BMX. Peadaling faster and faster until you can't spin any more. It does make you smoother with the pedalstroke, and there is a Zen like quality to the outright simplicity of only having go and stop. I must say the all blue color scheme does look snappy, and it is a smooth ride that fits perfectly.

I made it to Albuquerque just before I ran out of legal driving time. I delivered to one of the worst parking lots I have ever been in. It was more crowded than a NYC lot and also uneven dirt and sand. I would try to back into a narrow space in the dark and the sloping ground would tilt my trailer and bring it dangerously close to the others. I believe there was also some mystery sand here. I took another ride to REI in the morning to pick up spare tubes and such. Albuquerque has a nice set of trails through the city but alas I was called to Waxahachie TX. On a side note Waxahachie was the proposed location for the US supercollider which ultimately was never built.

I worked up from there to the Chicago area which is the nexus point of roadwork in the country currently. How about finishing one job before you start another. It seems like everything from Aurora IL to Gary IN is torn up right now.

I have been bouncing back and forth from Illinois to the east coast for the past week. I think I've spent over $200 on the Ohio Turnpike alone. They do have those nice rest area though. A few more weeks and I'll be heading home for The FOO fall campout in WV.

It wouldn't be a post without a little church, can I get an Amen?
Now how can you get some fear and guilt to all the lost souls out on the highway? Considering the amount of people I saw entering this trailer over the course of a Sunday morning, not many. I think a 53 foot trailer is a bit more than necessary. I have yet to see the Semi-synagogue, Motor-mosque, or Travelling temple. Maybe the Christians are just more creative. This rig must have a plastic Jesus on the dashboard.