Ever realise that.....

......you just weren't cut out to be an upstanding, productive member of society?

So.....it's Saturday morning! Now, since I'm not traveling this weekend, and I'm in town....I could do things that really neeeeed to be done!

Ooooh.....clean the house and get a haircut are thee very first two (of a list a mile long) that come to mind straight off the bat.

But, waking up on a typical Saturday Morning when I am in town.....I often find that I was attacked the night before by the Stupidity Bug! Said virus encourages me to.....ohhh....do things that simply aren't logical or rational!

So, in keeping with the pattern of the Stupidity Bug, this Saturday Morning, I woke up and decided that this weekend would be an excellent time to watch The Buffalo Sabres attempt an NHL record 11 victories straight out of the gate (start the season 11 and 0)........







......and to watch said match in Seattle, about 180 miles from my abode in The Hills of Cedar......














.....and to journey up towards the Emerald City on my skooter!


This course of action was decided.....errrmm.....five minutes after I physically got up and left my bed!


Right......


Well, Sabres turned the puck over waaaay too many times and lost, and I learned a few things about riding a two wheeled vehicle long-distances on Interstate highways.

DISLIKES -


Well.....

• Wet grooved pavement in a construction zone (ALWAYS fun for doing the dreaded Oh-Christ-PLEASE-don't-tip balance test).....on an URBAN part of the Interstate where everybody else is doing 70 - 75 M.P.H.

• Following behind Double-Trailer Semi trucks (ALWAYS fun for doing the dreaded down draught keep-skooter-under-control test) and not being able to pass it because the traffic is bumper-to-bumper in the left lane and nobody really feels like letting you squeeze in to pass this behemoth son-of-a-bitch!!

• Fighting 30 - 35 M.P.H. near-gale cross winds while on something that has a total combined weight (including my fat arse on it) of maybe 550 lbs. or so. ALWAYS fun for doing the dreaded SHIT!! AM-I-able-to-stay-in-the-lane? test!!

Christ.....really could have used my old CB 650 for that!! THAT thing was a beast.......surprisingly powerful yet surprisingly heavy!!!















OK. And......likes?

Likes -

• Carhartt coats! Can't say that I was cold this time (of course, unlike the ill-fated attempt at riding to The Ocean three weeks ago, I also didn't cross any mountain ranges this time....being a Geographer, I just simply followed the Willamette Meridian [a.k.a.: I-5] in a Northward direction).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Obtaining a new appreciation for just what an exact total pain-in-the-ass (in certain riding conditions....like the conditions I had encountered) CONTROLLING a bike can be. And appreciative for the fact that, before I started riding, I wasn't killed in some of these conditions (like wind shears faaaaaaaaar more powerful than the ones I rode in today and surviving riding on an Interstate during hyper rains that led to a serious flood!). You just don't realise EXACTLY HOW difficult controlling the bike is during shit like this when you're a passenger....

• Autumn in The Pacific Northwest. Travel magazines always scream about how stunning New England is in October. Good......fewer people coming up here!

• Making it back to Portlandia in one piece....going straight to a downtown pub (that I don't regularly frequent) for a couple of celebratory pints of Drop Top, and having the barmaid say "No worries......I got one of those for you".............typical of My People!

• 390 total miles round trip!! In my car?? $42.00 in petrol. On my skooter? It set me back 5.8 gallons of 92 octane petrol! $13.10!!!!

• The riding gloves friend and co-worker John Osterberg gave me! Thanx, John......they performed admirably through a fairly daunting task.....I mean, in addition to keeping my paws quite warm, I couldn't see just HOW white my knuckles were through these gloves whilst dealing with the gentle, wafting breezes of I-5.....

• Popping back into my pad.....HOT shower, Vampire Merlot from Romania (thanx to one of my housemates), and some killer extra sharp white cheddar from Utah (kindly provided by my friend in Seattle)
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-E-

p.s. - no....really.....Bobo and Ernie Football wars will resume next week!