"Death in Nashville", an original music video

Jim and I gave ourselves one hour to write and arrange a song, one hour to record and produce it, two hours to film raw movie footage, and two hours to edit it into an awesome music video.

Here. Warning: some scenes possibly MA-LV.

Pillsburgh to Music City, 572 miles

Pretty uneventful ride. I can hold my breath for 2.8 miles. Kentucky is pretty, but their grammar and diction are unreal.

I take that back. It was eventful. The motorcycle snuck in a pretty good kick to my balls- the throttle cable broke about 2 hours into the day. I now definitely understand why a twist grip was chosen as the standard motorcycle throttle control, rather than pulling on a little piece of cable with your fingers while steering with your other hand. Makes city driving very tough.

I arrived at Suruda's empty apartment in Nashville to find a bottle of whiskey, a brand new western shirt, the internet password, some sort of prescription pain pill, and an assortment of airsoft guns all laid out in front of a special-effects green screen. Curious.

Pretty Fall Farmland Ride

I took this little video clip hoping to show the fall colors and the nice two-lane roads passing through farmland scenes that look like Dairy Council ad hype. New York state really is cool. It may not come across well, I think you have to be there.


PS- in the clip, it may appear that I could possibly be speeding, Mom. I think it's the parallax effect of the camera lens and the unusual sound of a triple-cylinder bike that makes it feel that way. I am very not-speeding. The speedometer is in kilometers per hour ...Kelvin. Thanks.

Ithaca and Onward

I'd originally allotted the whole first morning in Ithaca for getting the motorcycle started. Happily, it snorted to life and was waking late-sleeping grad students up and down the whole block within 10 minutes, freeing up the rest of the morning for fun stuff. Like a huge nap. And heading to a prearranged spot and time to meet some "runner dudes" who Chris set me up with for a good hill-repeat workout. I had a great time visiting Ithaca and Chris- it was hard to leave. Between sticking around for a AM workout at Crossfit Ithaca, and a delicious breakfast put on by Chris' rommate Moe, it was 10:00 the next morning before I was on the road.

The ride was great. Riding through NY and PA was a rural, beautiful, bucolic treat, like tearing through Frodo's Shire at 80MPH. The leaves are just starting to turn, but a few small areas were a little ahead of the game and brilliant enough to warrant stopping. It was cold enough to get across the point that it was definitely Fall and make it hard to count out bills to the gas station clerk after the first leg. "Just take. Cold. Ouch."

This was a short day, and I filled it looking for roads with better fall leaves and taking pictures of road signs while locals shook their heads, but without as much as a second of working on or worrying about the bike. I found Pittsburgh just where they said it'd be (and not where I pictured it, up by the Great Lakes somewhere), and spent an hour trying to get to an address just off the freeway. I saw Northshore, the sports stadiums, Downtown, and Mt. Washington, all on the way to Southside.

Good Sharing

This morning's flight to Newark was the second time I've seen someone try to use their neighbor's footroom storage area in addition to their own. On a full flight. Sweet. You'll never know if you can park your car in your neighbor's driveway unless you just try it, I guess. Throw it out there. See what sticks.

I'm trying to think up some equally bold response if this happens to me again. Maybe I'll just pick up the bag and start going through it, looking for something to eat or any loose cash.

Good Start to the Adventure

There is apparently no 174 from my front doorstep to the airport anymore. It's OK. On a different, new bus, just as creepy as the old 174 was. I may make my flight. This motorcycle trip is going to RULE!

Starting up again

Tonight, things start up again. The $600 Yamaha XS750 triple still sits untouched, exactly where I left it parked on the curb on in New York. I'm confident that the only things I'll need to get headed down to Nashville and return to a life on the road are whatever simple tools they allow me to carry on the plane, and a can of starting fluid that I'll pick up from a 7-11 while I'm walking from the airport. Simple travel plans are the best.

I expect this trip will go better. It will be lonelier, and I will miss watching Jeff pay for most of the gas and set up my tent for me each night, but I will benefit from some important lessons learned:

• Don't take a homemade sidecar.
  
• Forget trying to wire up the phone so you can talk on the road; it'll just get broken.
  
• Blog more.
• Stay ahead on the burpees.
  

I'm pretty excited. I'm looking forward to midnight swimming in Ithaca again (I'll bet it's colder now), returning to Cleveland (I was pleasantly surprised to see the route took me through OH. Based on my feeble grasp of my country's geography, I could have just as easily believed I'd see Virginia Beach or the Carolinas), and visiting Suruda.