I wrote a note to my co-workers yesterday to let them know a bit about the craziness I'm about to embark upon. Some knew part of it, some knew none. Most of us work from home offices spread from Massachusetts to South Carolina to Montana, so I haven't had the pleasure of tormenting them with my months of Cannonball obsession. I thought I'd repeat here what I wrote to them. For some of you none of this is new; for others it might be...
I recently heard a new definition of adventure that I like: discomfort retold at leisure. I suspect there's going to be a lot of truth to that in this particular adventure.
Most of you already know what I'm about to do, but for those who don't… a week from today I am hopping on my Vespa to take a 3,000 mile ride. I'll be taking part in an event called the Scooter Cannonball Run (details to be found at http://www.scootercannonball.com/). There will be nearly 60 of us riding from Savannah to San Diego over the course of eight days. Once I get to the left coast I'll be spending a couple of days in LA, then flying home while my scooter gets shipped back east.
If you're at all interested in following my progress, there are a couple of ways to do it. First, there's a map online that will provide live tracking information: http://followride.com/rider/7 (I'm rider #7, alias Scutrbrau). I have something called a SPOT tracker that's often used by backcountry skiers and hikers that sends a ping every 10 minutes, which in turn appears on the map. Also, to Pat's great relief and pleasure, it has a help button and an SOS button so I can summon help even if I'm in an area with no cell phone coverage. The help button dispatches roadside assistance. The SOS button brings a search and rescue team. I'm hoping I don't need to test either of those.
You can also follow me via my blog at http://vesparazzi.blogspot.com/ though I can't promise I'll be doing a lot of writing along the way. I've read a number of blogs from past years' events that have a lot of entries up until the starting point and then fall silent. I suspect my evenings will be spent in motel parking lots with the other riders, drinking beer and telling stories, and not hanging out in my room writing. At the very least I hope to put up some photos along the way.
One side note that's kind of interesting, at least to me, is that I'm going to be riding with a guy, Bill, from England (Maidstone, Kent) who is coming here to participate; I'm picking him up at Dulles next week. We've become good friends via a Vespa forum that I frequent. He is being given a scooter to ride by another member of the forum, David, who is a Vespa dealer in LA. David was undergoing cancer treatment last year. Unbeknownst to everyone, Bill stayed in constant contact with David by phone, e-mail, text messages and postcards to offer encouragement and help get him to the finish line. David is repaying that kindness by shipping a scooter to my house for Bill to use for this cross-country jaunt. Even for a cynic like me I find that very heartwarming.
I've been thinking about and planning this for nearly two years. The last time around the run started in Vancouver and ended in Portland, so Pat and I hung out at the finish line to watch some of the riders come in. Somehow or other the sight of those exhausted and bedraggled riders made me begin to obsess over doing it myself. So here I am. I haven't had a proper vacation in quite some time. While the idea of beating the crap out of myself and my bike for a couple of weeks might not sound like a relaxing break, I can assure you that there's nothing else I'd rather be doing with my time.
Oh, one other thing that's completely unrelated but of some interest - our house in Portland has finally sold; closing is on Monday. With that monkey off our back we can really focus on getting settled in to our new place. Once I get back home, that is.
Cheers,
Rick
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