Day 1
As posted earlier, I was the recipient of a fine migraine right about 10:00 AM. First one in a long time, I blame it on trying to accomplish too much in too short of time, all of which had to be perfect, from a professional and personal point of view. Nevertheless, here she is, and the vision is wavy, hypersensitive to noise, and just the 'aura' of weirdness.
Perfect. Also, it's been heavy on my mind - the last time I visited an 'old folks' home was for my Grandma. I was maybe 18 or so. And the place left an indelible bad imprint on my fragile child egg shell mind. The stench of urine, old folks with gaping mouths drooling spit and snot everywhere, the smell of impending death choking the very air... and I had a dream/nightmare about it last night. I wonder how it will be this time?
Leaving Cal Poly, and of course a UPD had to stop to tell me not to park there... I played like a dumb tourist, told him I was *thinking* of having my daughter attend, and all of a sudden he was joe nice!
In true CBA style, I made it all of 5 miles before stopping for gas. I wanted to run a tank of Techrolene through to clean the injectors. I've not done that in +100k miles and remembered sage advice about 'run it through the tank, don't let it set, it may damage the copper shellac on the fuel pp windings or something like that.." Of course I could not find the bottle I purchased yesterday anywhere in my baggage.
My next CBA stop was only 35 miles up the road, near Paso Robles. I was having difficulty with vision, and decided to stop, get some lunch, take stock of my condition - e.g. decide to continue or not. My mantra is something about he who rides the longest in a lifetime, not in one day... (see the sagging bag strapped on Joe's aux tank? Yeah, that's where the extra bottle of Techrolene is!)
and inside I saw an old friend, whom I've not seen for over 15 years! Mike and Wendy are great folks, used to race MX with them, and by pure chance, here she was!
Right about here the weather started getting iffy. I decided to NOT take a chance, so pulled over under an overpass and got the outer rain gear on.
From 30 miles south of Stockton to about 50 miles north of Sacramento, it rained. Sometimes just a drizzle, sometimes alot.
So I stopped - regroup time, again. Actually, though, I'm feeling better, stronger, as the ride goes on. Maybe it's the rain diverting my attention. Maybe riding is just good for the body and soul? Here's a pix from a nice warm n' dry MickeyD's -
Finally, the weather broke, so stopped and cleaned my face shield, did some stretching, took off the outer upper rain jacket.
I was hoping to make it to Weed, but the weather once again turned. And it was getting dark. And wet. And I'm a wimp. Uhh, I mean my CBA membership only allows so many miles per day - and I was bumping up against the limit..
So I found a clean and nice home de home on de road in Corning, CA, about 50 miles south of Redding. Not bad for 44 bucks.
And, of course, the requisite hotel room drying the clothers pix!
All in all, I did OK. I stayed within the Safety Zone while pushing my Comfort Zone. And tomorrow is a brand new day!