Thanksgiving turned out a bit better than I was thinking it would. The 1,500 miles driven (round trip) were free of both traffic and snow. I got a chance to see some of the beautiful Oregon countryside again, and ended up with a pretty solid meal to boot. Somewhere along the way I lost my favorite belt though.

I’m always amused by truck stops. On the surface, a place will seem clean and well kept. There is a seedy underbelly to these places though. Between the hookers and speed pills, truckers live a life that few can really handle. Somewhere between here and there, I walked into a restroom with a gay smut magazine opened and lying on the floor. I am unsure if it was some sort of code, but I handled my usual business and got the hell out.

We got home from Sacramento Saturday evening and spent the night playing Rock Band. I never realized just how tone deaf I was until I tried to sing a song or two. In a word, painful. I am really loving the drums, but it took me awhile to get used to coordinating my hands and feet.

Last week Peter McKay dropped off some fliers regarding the shootings that have been going down in our neighborhoods. I finally got around to putting them up last night. I got a lot of questions from neighbors, so I am hoping it turns up something. The reward is substantial enough that I can imagine it would turn someone into a “rat”. It is a shame that people are so weary of interacting with local police. I was confronted by a guy at a bus stop while stapling them up. He informed me that though he had never been shot at while on a bike, people have “tried to gang rape” him before. I’m not sure if that involved a bicycle though. He was sure that “those Mexican kids” were involved, but offered no evidence. Regardless, I hope something turns up.

I am going to get a new Slingshot for Christmas, and I am looking forward to it. It is used for a bicycle mileage logbook and I have so much stuff coming up next year. SIR is starting training in January, and the official brevets start in March. I am getting a bit nervous and a little excited to start the randoneuring. I have ridden a couple of hundred miles over a weekend (Seattle to Portland), but I have yet to put this kind of strain on my body. I came out of my lymphoma experience feeling strong though. There is no doubt in my mind that I will succeed.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 1:17 pm and is filed under bicycling, illustration, sir, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.