Road Trip!

Our trip has been crazy so far. I have not slept in the same place twice since I've been here. For the past week I've been in a different state every night. Pretty rad I must say, today we're hiking in West Virginia, tomorrow Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and then on to Philadelphia and New York. Here is a slide show of some of the pictures Bettina has taken in Kentucky and West Virginia. Enjoy

http://bettinahansen.com/sofar/

Bettina, here I come.

On monday, I finally get to go back and visit the light of my life, miss bettina! I fly into New Orleans monday night and will stay there for a day or so, then drive to Lafayette, stay there a night, then drive to Baton Rouge, pack up everything, and we're driving all the way to Hartford, Connecticut! I can't wait! We get to go through West Virginia and stop off for a pick me up (Thank you God) in Manhattan. *Sigh* Oh I can't wait! I'm hoping to be able to post every so often of our travels along the way, but we'll see. If not, I will be back on the third and craving my bike, but not the heat.

View Our trip to Hartford, CT in a larger map

Proud owner of a new old car!

I am now the proud owner of my very own, all mine, new old truck! Giggling is allowed since most everyone pokes fun at my giant truck that hardly fits into ANY space, let alone university size spaces. I downgraded from a very big white truck, to a smaller, but still quite large white truck. I wanted a small car to fit into University size parking spaces, but my Uncle, who is a very nice man and loves me more than I deserve, saw fit to give me his baby, Bartholemew, the 1995 white Chevy half ton pick up truck. And did I mention he gave it to me for free? Yup. Hence why I gratefully accepted it. While it may be a tad old school on the outside, the inside looks exactly like it did when Bart rolled off the showroom floor. Perfect interior. It's quite lovely! As you can see, Bart is quite a bit smaller than my other truck. I just had not ever noticed  just HOW big my first truck was. I will admit, when I got Bart home, and started to clean out the other truck, I almost burst into tears. I felt awful for what I had done. Replacing a beautiful, good to me, really superb truck. But things change, and my father wants his back. So I willingly obliged. But now I own something! I feel as though I am growing up. Let's just not rush anything else, shall we?
My new crankset! Isn't it beautiful? I am also getting my new bike seat in the next week or so! I am very excited! I've been waiting months to get it, the Soma Ensho black glitter saddle! Ooo! I also put on new handlebar tape, and hopefully soon I will take the whole thing apart and get it painted. I'm tired of all that BCA stuff on my old paint job. 

Cartel Coffee Lab. I must represent!
Spoke card from my first race, Kill Mill Volume 3!
And of course, cute little Domino. I tried to pick up the camera to upload these photos and was met with this at the other end of the hand strap :) 

Ah to reminisce

Found this picture on the Prolly Is Not Probably blog, not only is it a pretty cool picture of a fixed gear rider doing a track stand, but it is also right in front of my old school in Union Square. Reminded me of how much I loved living in New York. These are some of my old haunts, Siggy's the organic cafe Simone and I used to go to, the Brooklyn Promenade where we liked to visit and perhaps filmed an illegal film or two there... perhaps, and the old St. George Hotel on Henry Street in Brooklyn where we used to live. Good times :) I miss it. I'll be there in a few weeks though!

Joy and woe are woven fine,

A clothing for the soul divine. 

Under every grief and pine,

runs a joy with silken twine. 

-W.B.

Death Pedal

Last night we biked about 13 miles to Phoenix from Tempe with a big group of other fixie aficionados. It was grand! We met at Tempe beach park after a quick pick me up at Cartel and Otto's and we biked all the way to First Friday. The ride was awesome, I am going to start doing it more often. It was a lovely night with friends, art and hilarity. You can't get much better than that. Didn't get to sleep till around 4 this morning, and then had to be up at 7, biked all the way home in time for a meeting I had ... and now my body is feeling dead. I think a nap is in order... but food first. 

<== Death Pedal is everywhere!

Bike nerd/ fixie obsessed

God! I am such a bike nerd, but holy shit! This is the hottest bike I have ever seen. Look at that craftmanship! And those handlebars? Those would make anybody cream themselves. This is a track bike made by the famous Vanilla bike company, each bike is hand crafted and has a two year waiting list to get your hands on one. Far worth it though, this is my dream bike.

Let me know what you think. This is a sculpture I made for my 3D design, my final project. After all the confusion that went into this last piece, it was wonderful to watch it burn. 

Today's Thought Pattern

Next place to visit: 

A marvelous fixie. I am in love. 

He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy,

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Live's in eternity's sunrise. -W.B.

Last thought for the day: Hats off to those who can hill bomb on a fixie. I don't have that kind of death wish. Good night all.