So darn cold

Thursday morning

This is the state of things. So cold that, when I made a brief foray outside to see if my car would start, my face hurt. Schools have been closed most of the week, and even the court system was shut down  Monday, yesterday and today. Suspects are languishing in cells awaiting their bail hearings, and Ms. V has been sentenced to spend her days with me -- though I'll just note that I'm not the one laying down the law.

By Saturday (see above), it's supposed to be 40 degrees. A 60-degree swing in 48 hours. Maybe nice enough for a bike ride, if I'm not suffering from temperature-change vertigo.

We've been watching "Money Heist" -- a gang of thieves wearing Salvador Dali masks break into a Spanish mint and print money for themselves. They have ideals -- to enrich themselves without taking from anybody else. That's the single elevated notion sustaining 9+ hours of viewing. You could get through a quarter of "War & Peace" in that time. But, hey, we love our Netflix.

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How's your MDA? Check out JON'S MDA DRIVE.

Buying an empty bag

New bag

New bag, interior, with maps. 

This kick-butt handlebar bag was Ms. V's Christmas gift to me, by which I mean she said I could buy it. It's waterproof, light, capacious, lockable, and, uh, spendy. But, as Bruce has said of Ortlieb bags, "They're the state of the art."

My mom used to say, of my dad's boats: "Oh, yes, they cruise so nice there on the highway behind the car," which is where they got a lot of their use. This is like me taking a picture of my bike bag on the bike in the house. Sits pretty nice there in front of the filing cabinet.

Taking a look at my maps yesterday, I got a little involved and spent hours at it, lining them up in order, numbering them, trying to figure out the route on a large US map. Planning is the most fun part of any trip. But planning without going is just a form of dreaming.

Not to knock dreaming.

I'm making flight plans. First time in my whole life I've made flight plans four months early. I hope to fly to Seattle the week before Memorial Day, and start riding with Bruce May 29 or so. There's a bike store in Astoria that will take UPS shipment of your disassembled bike and put it together for a small fee. About $100 to ship it in a box, and $50 to put it together. Cheaper than checking it on a plane, even if they would allow it.

So.

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To contribute to my MDA drive, click here: JON'S MDA DRIVE.

Such a pita -- get it?

We are in a state of mourning over the loss of Mykonos, our local Greek take-out joint. Just three blocks away. It satisfied the occasional adolescent craving for, well, a little bit of grease. Gyros, spanakopita, garlic potatoes and pitas pitas pitas. It even got an obit of sorts from the local paper's food writer. The family that ran it for decades felt the time was right, reportedly. Hopefully, someone will buy the place and recreate it, if only for the convenience of the Olson/Vospers.

I took a bike ride a couple days ago, a sunny afternoon in the mid-40s. It was fun for a while, till I hit the New Berlin Trail. Out there in the hinterland the pavement was strewn with patches of diabolical ice. I rolled over what I could, then walked, pushed with one leg, cursed. I was going to meet Ms. V at a movie way out in Delafield. Already a bad idea. Finally -- and get this, all you macho riders -- I called her to rescue me.

I'm not proud.

And we never did make the movie.

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Still time to be an early supporter of my MDA fund drive. Read the story and consider your finances  HERE.

A new wrinkle

Vanity in full

This is a new wrinkle on my planned bike trip. THE FUNDRAISER! The dreaded plea for money. But not for me -- for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The local office was kind enough to set up a page for me, and you can access it here.

This is kind of out of my comfort zone. But read the story and make a tax-deductible pledge -- if you feel so moved.

(Now I really HAVE to do it.)

Making plans

The big picture

The first days

The first hours

More adventuresome riders might start in Seattle and ride through Glacier National Park and over the Logan Pass, up there by the Canadian border. But, at 60, with ailments, I've tried to plot what may be an "easier" route, which I think will not be that easy. The Rockies and Tetons will stretch me, although these great maps give altitude profiles, and for the most part they try to ease you through the valleys -- not that I won't struggle.

Those more adventuresome riders often wind up in Maine, several hundred if not a thousand miles farther, and I don't feel the need to see Maine, as much as I'd like to give Susan Collins a piece of my mind.

After Astoria, the starting point, there's supposed to be a pretty good tailwind along the Columbia River, a little gift for your first day out, and I will take it.

Here's a little outline of cities along the route:

From Astoria Oregon to Clarkston WA to:

* Missoula, MT 

* Great Falls MT 

* Dickinson ND 

* Fargo ND

* Walker MN

* Stillwater MN 

* across Wisconsin to Milwaukee, where I'll spend a few days, since the lodging is free (if you don't     count the condo fee)

* ferry across to Muskegon 

* across Michigan to Detroit 

* into Ontario (remember the passport!) 

* cross the border again to New York

* Erie Canal to the Hudson 

* across the Washington Bridge to NYC.


Still aiming for a late May departure.