August 14th, 2010

August 14th, 2010:

Last Saturday before work. I did manage to wake at 10:00 AM rather than the usual 2:00 PM. Tomorrow I will wake at 8:00 AM, no matter how tired.

Went to brekkies at Cafe Ibis, and noticed an old man checking out my bike, which I previously put a "for sale" sign on. Since I had 10 minutes to even get breakfast, I asked him to join me at Ibis, where I handed him my key and let him take a test drive while I rushed in to qualify for the breakfast cut off time of 11 AM. He was in his 70's and showed up on a very fast older bike, so I figured he wouldn't wreck my ride. He came back like 10 minutes later, but I wasn't interested in trading for an 80's model truck. I noticed the old looking beat up Suzuki DR 650, with full long term touring cases, and battle scars. I have seen this bike over and over, and I was fortunate enough to find its owner this morning. I knew from the looks of the bike that he had beaten down a few thousand miles of trails, but I had no idea...

"Ricky", the motorcyclists name, had gone from Canada, and took the 95 percent dirt "Great Divide" trail which travels along the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, all the way down to Mexico. But Ricky kept going... He then took the "Pan American" highway, from Mexico down to Panama. The only gap in the "Pan American", is known as the "Darian Gap", which is a marsh, tidal swamp, and impenetrable jungle that separates Panama and Columbia. Ricky had to pay a sailboat, 500$ to bring him across that gap, which is also known for its extreme lawlessness. He then went from Columbia, thru Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and wound up at the southernmost city in the world known as "Ushuia" Argentina, which is about 600 miles from Antarctica. Logan and I were in Ushuia, about 5 years ago, so we had a lot of South American notes to compare. Of course, this dude, took 14 months of hard driving, and survival situations in order to do it. While, I just took a plane and a cruise ship.

Turns out that Ricky was from Oklahoma, and used to play in a punk rock band known as the "Nixon's", during the time I used to play in "Deep Ellum", Dallas, back in the late 80's early 90's, and used to play in the same venues. The Nixon's, were far more famous than the groups I used to jam with. He actually made money playing professionally. So we gammed on an outside table of Ibis for like 3 or 4 hours, which is a record for me to talk to anyone without a drink in my hand. Ricky has accomplished one of the most harrowing motorcycle journeys I've ever heard of, but he is more impressed with the people who traveled down the same roads by bicycle. Those crazy bicycle peeps, amaze the shit out of me as well.

I admire those folks, but ultimately prefer the plane and cruise ship route. Yes, I will travel a few hundred miles on a motorcycle trip, but when going to Chile, I'd just assume fly down there, then look around. But certain situations, and mind sets seem to gravitate toward the extreme. Ricky, speaking of many of the other motorcycle travelers, down in South American, said that more than a few of them were suicidally depressed, and took the risks as a last resort, since "they didn't want to die with money still in their pockets". Rickey, merely did it out of boredom, but I understand the mentality of those he described. Many of the "Suicidal ones", were from Europe.

Ricky and I both agreed that Logan, Utah is the best place in America to live. With the extreme natural beauty of the nearby wilderness, and of the upbeat, non pretentious town of Logan itself. Logan, is the nations safest metro area (population of 100,000 or more), and is recognized for being the safest city in the US, each year. You can leave your doors unlocked in most places in this city. Unless you live in downtown apartments, where the poor, destitute and the insane live. No violent criminals do I see around here, but there are more than a few scavengers who live downtown, due to no other options. I still agree with Ricky: Logan, Utah is the nicest place to live in the US. Period. The factors taken into consideration while formulating this opinion were, natural beauty, cost of living, low crime, vitality of the town itself. Logan rocks in my book. But I am already itching to go elsewhere. I better watch what I wish for.

After tiring of Ibis, I went to "Borders Books", and did some net surfing, since the Ibis, seats start to hurt the ass after a few hours of talking. Ibis seat tend to be more waif friendly, the seats are only a foot wide. . Borders is cool, because it is less crowded, and you can grab a book off the shelf, then read it while swigging coffee or tea, then putting it back. I totally love this concept! How do these places make any money? I am more than content to put my grubby hands on their books, pay two bucks for a glass of tea, use their internet, possibly their bathroom, yet never pay 20 bucks for one of their paperback books, since I can buy the hardbacks for two or three bucks at the thrift stores. Most of the books on my reading list are hardback. But I guess "Borders" does do a good business, since they also rent videos, and games. I would gladly pay a cover charge, since they allow me to camp in there for a couple hours, and ask very little. Some customers, just go in, surf the net, and leave without buying a single thing. I always pay for a coffee for dignity purposes, and have been known to buy a book or rent a video from them.

By then it was nearly 6 PM. Damn! Longest I've ever spent at two coffee places, I did spend awhile loading up my blog, and finding a decent picture for it.

I stopped to check on the Mercedes that I love with all my heart and soul, but she is still in the shop. They told me that she will see me again once she is perfect. I hate to say it, but once I see that car again, and test it out some more, that I fully plan to buy it. A man needs a woman! And I consider this car to be my object of affection that deserves my attention and total reverence. No real woman can give me as much pleasure in return for my love, as this gorgeous, large, sleek, black, Sedan will. She will always be true, never yell at me, never betray me, never love than HATE me. Hell hath no fury baby!!! Give me the machine. The machine is my one desire!.

I cooked some "Dahl/Aloo Marsala" this evening, which is Indian food consisting of Lentils and chopped potato, in Marsala sauce. I made this from scratch, so no MRE pouches. Cooking this took a few hours. And no, the MRE's taste better, but they cost three bucks each. My dinner costs about 50 cents and is almost as good, but I plan to work on it. The mess of cooking for one, is nearly the mess of cooking for 4. And since I have to do both the cooking and cleaning, I believe I will buy the "Meals Ready to Eat" type of Indian food, since you only have to boil the pouch in water. But cooking from scratch is still fun. My Italian Scratch food is excellent, but my Indian does need a bit of work in order to gain authenticity.

Did another 4 hours of reading, damn I miss the TV up here, but I am firm about keeping the cable and internet out of my apartment. I do need to hook up a TV and DVD player, in order to have some visual entertainment of occasion.