What have you learned, Grasshopper?

Ok, I absolutely hate to say this, but it seems that although my mind, soul and much of the rest of me could do the trip I planned, my knees wouldn't let me. First day Sunday wasn't too bad, but yesterday was agony. I managed to get about 40 miles in and decided I might do irreparable damage if I continued. So I am back in Alameda at the moment.

Not that I'm through, mind you. Sure, there could have been any number of ways I might have learned about this weakness ahead of time. I was fairly aware any number of things could have stopped me. (I'll tell you about the weather change I experienced later. It wasn't enough to stop me, but it sure was foreboding!) My friend Erik who I live with in Phoenix wants to do some small tours, like up to Prescott and lakes to the north of Phx. I will learn then perhaps where I shorted or overextended myself.

Til then, probably a month from now, I will keep the blog alive with pictures...

Alameda

The view from Treasure Island. Click on the image to go to the photostream, if you desire...

I am staying with my good friend Andy. This is what he looks like...

So a word about shipping your equipment, if that is the route you desire to take; It may not get there.

Now you can compensate for this like I did. Give yourself some time where you start to allow equipment to arrive if there are delays. But it still is annoying, giving you just enough to worry about as you sit and wait for the packages to arrive.

So two things to learn from my trip so far. 1, keep the tracking numbers for your packages. 2, get an estimate on overall shipping time to be able to compensate for any delays in it actually arriving on time. If I were on a tight schedule, I would be very anxious and annoyed right now, instead of just mildy annoyed and inconvenienced. I mean, here I am, across the Bay from San
Francisco, but Ive got to sit here and wait for boxes.

So let's relax with some pictures from a duck pond at Crab's Cove...

Is he there yet?

Not quite.

Not that there's anything in my way but time, at this point. I fly out to San Francisco on the 21st, the gear should get there on the 23rd, so I've got at least three day's playtime in San Fran.

I will set out the list of what I will be taking and photos of everything at that time. Maybe I'll post some pics of San Fran before, just to make it all a little more interesting as I go.

Meanwhile, I will say this in regards to Phoenix. There are far worse places to be sure, but it is just too damn big. They finally have a light-rail system. The final touches are being put on it now and it should be done in December, as scheduled. A lot of my friends have either moved or moving, although there's still quite a few here. Oh yeah, one last note; McCain supporters here are no more/less fervent than they are anywhere else even though he is Senator here.

More to come. Mahalo.

Preliminary Pre-meeting Meeting...

I've wanted to do something like this for a long time. So it begins. Well, kinda sorta...

Today I bought a plane ticket to San Francisco. I had been planning to ride a tour in a loop, but I was told by experienced tourists "Hey, wouldn't you like to enjoy your ride?" So that's the plan now and here is the general overview...

It still has plenty of mileage and since it's a 'get home' trip, I've nothing but to ride home. Pretty sweet, huh?