Wednesday, September 21, 2005

" Well, hang in there........."

As the road trip gets nearer, I'm starting to have flashbacks to my yoot. Specifically, "Then Came Bronson".

Coolest. TV. Show. Ever. - If you have testicles, anyway. Cool Dude on a Sportster, on a quest to see "There has to be more to life".

Shit. I was 12 or 13 when this show had it's one season run. Every Wednesday night, my brother and I would be glued to the old B&W Emerson.(That was before the little brother poured the milk in it)

Every week he'd pull up to the stoplight (While lane splitting) and the fella in the station wagon would ask him - "Where ya goin'?"

Bronson - "Wherever I end up, I guess."

Station wagon guy - "Man, I wish I was you."

Bronson - "Well, hang in there."

Maybe this link here will work - we'll see: Video of opening of the show.

Who the hell didn't want to do THAT!!

No, that didn't influence any young kids to want a bike. Nope. Not at all. I still get a hankerin' to buy a Sportster and do a copy job of that bike.

He fixed it once after a wreck by beatin' it with a rock. Even as a kid, I thought that was pretty appropriate for fixing a '69 Sportster.

As you can tell, I'm gettin' "Road Fever".

I may have some company for a few days. Dr. J and Mr. T, The Xray squid from work, may be joining me for the first few days of the trip. That part's not fer sure. We'll see if we can work that out. I'd be nice to ride with a couple of Buds' for a few days though. I'm hoping that works out but I'm still prepped to go solo, if that's how it goes.

Gathering and packing a little each day. I'm taking some minimal camping gear with me, bag, small tent and a tarp. Maybe a coffee pot and some minimal cooking utensils but not much more. Space and weight considerations won't allow too much.

I ordered some waterproof bags from Cabellas the other day. Two for the saddlebags as liners and two to carry other shit in. I still need a tool roll of some kind. It's been so long since I've done a long road trip, that I'm sure I'm gonna take a bunch of crap I won't use, and be short something I'm gonna need. Oh Well. That's what credit cards are for I guess. I've got two weeks and only a couple of places that I have to be during that time.

So far, it looks something like this - Leave Monday. Either Ohio or Kentucky to W. Virginia. Then to Roanoke to see a friend. Then the Blue Ridge Parkway to Carolina. Ride a day or two around there and over to London, KY (Via Deals Gap)on Saturday to meet up with the family at the annual Family "Hoe Down" and get together. After that? Memphis and the Guggenheim motorcycle display? Don't know. Don't care either. "Wherever I end up, I guess".

"Goin' down that long, lonesome highway. Gonna, live life my way."