Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Notes From The Road: Part II

Just a few rocks and pointy things round here...
Marathon driving wasn't something I wanted to aspire to as a kid, but somehow I got roped into it. Early on in my life, I was the guy that drove the Buick with the 16 foot aluminum boat stacked to the gills with gear 250-300 miles up north every year, then drove said boat all over for a week, and then helped pack it up and drove back every year for over a decade.

Then I met my wife, who being from El Paso, Texas, wanted to have me meet her parents. That entailed my first and only straight through 1350 mile drive in 24 hours. A near death experience I didn't ever want to reapeat.

Of course, we've done several more of those trips since, using two days. Then let's not forget all the Trans Iowa recon miles and events which have been done in the past eight years as well. Plus some other zany multi-hour road trips.

So, like it or not, I have honed some chops as a driver. One thing that never changes though is how exhausted and brain drained I am afterward. Yeah, I made it down and my brain is cooked. So this is the post people.

Bikes have been downloaded and riding should happen soon. I do have a disappointing note for "mw" though, as I had to bring two rigs for TNI testing, so the fat bike stayed home. I know! I am disappointed too, but this chance to do some serious tough testing can not be passed up. The terrain here is tortuous on bike parts and bikes.

Okay, that's all I can muster for this post. More soon.....

3 comments:

George said...

I feel your pain. Last year, my buddy and I drove from Waterbury VT to Albuquerque NM in 36 hrs, straight through. Talk about a mind warp.

mw said...

i've done 28hrs driving with one 1.5hr rest break. tons of memories now, so it seems kinda fun in hindsight. painful at times. blew the headgaskets along the way...

Joe Mann said...

You should try driving for RAAM. 2000 miles to Califonia, 3000 miles to Annapolis (250-275 miles per day) then 1000 miles back to Iowa. What a great way to see the country.