From South Station in Boston to the Stockyards of Austin

--Railroad Lady, Lefty Frizzell


There's something satisfying about a long motorcycle trek in foul weather that leaves you with a sense of satisfaction which has few to rival it. I made the 2,000 mile trip (actually my odometer tells me it was 1,962.3 miles, but Google insists that it was 2,005) a few weeks ago, traversing 14 states and one enormous, cold, wet storm system along the way. The end result: a torn rainsuit, shredded saddlebag covers, a very squared-off rear tire, and a broad grin on my face when I arrived in 76 degree, sunny Austin after five days of cramped legs and numbutt.

Since arriving in my new home, I've been scouring the town for bars, restaurants, cafés, and taco trucks.. and once my bikes finally landed at the doorstep, I began hunting down places to ride.. and all this is leaving me a bit exhausted - there's so much here! Dinosaur Junior and Built to Spill played Stubb's shortly after I hit town.. I've gorged on tacos, flautas, steak, cones, crépes, cupcakes, and sushi.. coffee, beer, wine, and palomas have been sipped and swilled on garden patios.. and a short mountain bike ride along Barton Creek has left me jonesing for saddle time like I haven't felt in years.

Work on the book is a bit slow, for the moment. There's been a bit of delay in Emmaus, trying to extract raw text from the current edition for me to begin editing. Once that's complete and the discs are in my hands, it'll be all-ahead-flank again to get the manuscript ready for the end of December and then a few trips to Rodale HQ and the Bicycling offices in Emmaus for photography and video shoots. I figure it's a moral imperative that I should enjoy the down time for everything it's worth, while it lasts. But also, I can't help feel like I need to find a day job in a shop for a couple days a week. The advance that Rodale provided me to work on the manuscript can get me by pretty comfortably for a few months, but I don't like the idea of drawing that down without putting anything back. There's an important social aspect to having a regular gig in a new town, too, that would help make Austin feel more like home a little more quickly.

Ooh. And as I'm thinking about friends.. my good friends back at Independent Fabrication are refinishing my frame for me! It'll be nice to have another stunning covermodel for the book, to help draw attention from my awkward self on there. After bouncing ideas back and forth with Clint, we arrived at something that will be simple yet sharp.. I can hardly wait to see the finished product!

I'll finally be moving into my permanent spot next week and picking up a new sleeper sofa shortly thereafter.. so all my Boston peeps should start drawing straws or roshambo-ing or something for couchsurfing timeshares. I'll keep 'researching' so I can show you a good time while you're here.