Once Apon A Time In Mexico

It’s been sitting on my entertainment center for a couple months now so I finally got sick of looking at it and sat down to watch it. It was definitely a fun movie, but if you’re looking for lots of Salma Hayek, don’t bother. She’s in about 5 minutes of flashback scenes spread out throughout the movie. Johnny Depp’s character is psychotically good. Definitely worth the rental costs if you like action movies.

In Conquest Born

I just finished reading In Conquest Born by C. S. Friedman and really enjoyed it. It’s a long book and as is typical of her writing style, there’s a lot of information in there. It’s the story of two people on opposite sides of a muntigenerational war and covers their lives from childhood on. It’s a thick read but if you like space opera and some hard sci-fi you’ll probably enjoy it.

Starting School Again

No rest for the wicked. School started back up today. I’m taking POS/410, SQL for Business. It’s looking like it’s going to be a fun class and I should get a lot out of it. What SQL I know was learned as I needed it and so there are some pretty significant gaps in my skills. After this class I’ve got 9 more to complete my degree.

Motorcycle Trip Day 12

I left Little Rock at around 8:00 in the morning and made excellent time heading back. This was a minimum stops run to get home. I pulled in to the garage at 1:15 in the afternoon, safe and sound.

Here’s the stats on the trip:

47 Hours 30 Minutes in the saddle spread out over 12 days.

2975 miles ridden at an average speed of 62.6 mph.

59.872 gallons of gas burned, which works out to a little over 49 miles per gallon.

It’s good to be home.

Motorcycle Trip Day 11

I hit the road at 8:00 in the morning, stopped for a quick breakfast in Knoxville, and headed down I-40 towards Little Rock. The day started out almost cold, to the point where I was thinking about breaking out the sweatshirt.

As I moved west through Tennessee the change in geography was amazing. The eastern side of the state is a lot prettier than the western side. As for I-40, I’m beginning to think that it’s a NASCAR training track. I was doing 80 and was still getting passed like I was standing still. Once I got into Arkansas the truckers got a lot more obnoxious, flat out refusing to share the road at all. I was stuck behind two trucks running side beside below the speed limit for miles. I finally had it with them and split lanes past them at around 100 mph. Jerks!

In spite of that I made good enough time to push on past my planned stop and finally called it a night in Little Rock. The hot weather is back and those few extra miles will mean less to ride tomorrow. I did about 540 miles today.

Motorcycle Trip Day 10

I slept in a little today, but was on my way back to The Dragon for a couple more runs. I’m really glad I could do a few runs yesterday because there were a lot more motorcycles on the road today. I did manage to increase my run speed by about 5 mph and the tires are scuffed a lot closer to the edges. I really think this trip has had a positive impact on my riding skills because I’m much more confident in turns and at speed.

After The Dragon I went to Smoky Mounain Harley-Davidson to pick up a few shirts. It’s a really nice shop and has to be one of the biggest ones I’ve ever been in.

Finally a bison burger at Ruby Tuesday capped off an early night. I’ve got a long leg of the homeward bound trip tomorrow.

Motorcycle Trip Day 9

I left Lexington at 9:00 in the morning and has a leisurely 3 hour ride over to Alcoa, TN. I got in at around 1:00 in the afternoon, unloaded the bike, ate some lunch, and headed out to The Dragon.

Deal’s Gap is everything I thought it would be. 318 turns in 11 miles! I went slow on the way down and stopped to take some pictures of the gorgeous scenery. When I got down to North Carolina I stopped at The Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort to pick up some souveniers before I headed back. I did the ride back a little faster and had a blast. I’m going back tomorrow for a few more runs before I head home.

Motorcycle Trip Day 8

I left Peoria a little earlier than I had planned but that ended up being a good thing. It was almost chilly this morning, especially with the vented jacket!

I found the Champaign, IL dealer by accident as I pulled off for gas and picked up a shirt and had a nice chat with a fellow Sportster rider.

The new seat is working out well though my butt is still getting used to it. I think it, the early start, and the cooler weather were why I made it to my planned stop by 12:30. After eating some lunch I decided to push on a little farther.

I got a little lost in Louisville looking for a dealer to buy a shirt from and stopped in an Enterprise car rental lot to call them when one of the emlpoyees came out offering me some water to drink. I thanked her and got directions to the dealer. It turned out that I was one exit off.

When I got to the dealer I got to see a car fire at the gas station next door. That was my excitement for the day! The staff at Bluegrass Harley-Davidson were friendly and helpful and didn’t give me any ribbing about touring on a Sportster.

After that I made my way to Lexington, KY where I stopped for the night. Putting that extra distance on today means that I will be able to run Deal’s Gap tomorrow as well as Friday.

Motorcycle Trip Day 7

Today was the last day of the Peoria stopover. It was a slow day but I got my laundry done and the new seat installed. After that Reese and I went over to a barber shop and I got my hair cut really short. I just got sick of helmet hair so now I don’t have much.

After that Reese and I went to see Madagascar. It was really funny, with plenty of jokes that only the adults will get. See if you can spot the Twilight Zone joke.

Finally I packed up the T-Bag so that I’m ready to head to Indiana in the morning.