Plan Updates and general good news

I have purchased another ticket to Mexico City for January 19th. This will put me in Mexico for approximately 3 months, which even though is half of what I originally dreamed of, is still a long time. I'm still in the process of trying to make some dollars for this trip since I have another 4 weeks around here. I've put up ads around the gym as a house cleaner/errand runner/baby sitter/general stuff doer. I'm hoping that I get some calls in the next few days. I also have a couple of jobs that are probably going to call me sometime soon, and a random job cleaning a sub shop in the center of town (but it's totally unreliable). The other thing that I'm spending my time doing, besides job hunting, is going to a cycling class every morning at the gym. It's been really really really awesome. There's nothing like sweating buckets every morning to wake you up. Besides making me feel really awesome and productive, the cycling class is going to ensure that when I do get back on my bike and start hauling me and my 35 pounds of gear around I won't just fall over panting and cursing myself for ever thinking that biking across Mexico was a good idea. Oh I'll be ready all right, at least for the physical part. I've been reading all sorts of bike forums and blogs and looking at photos of other Mexican bike tours and I'm just getting more and more excited. I've been thinking lately that I would also really like to visit Colombia, preferably on bike, sometime in the future. I'll think about this one for some other year. For this year I have plans to return to Star Island (hopefully) and then continue on to some other room and board job for the winter. I figure two back to back jobs with room and board over a year will let me be able to stack up a pretty decent amount of money. Who knows what's in the future for real though, but I have enough dreams to fill up a world of futures.

Wrenches are for fixing bikes, not throwing in your plans!

This morning I headed out to Gear Works, the awesome local bike shop, to get my bike all boxed up and ready to fly. Everything went totally awesome and I couldn't be more impressed or happy with the people over there. I've been able to watch my bike come out of a box, get set up, get heavier and heavier with all of it's gear, and then broken back down again with care for transportation. I have planned, researched, learned, contemplated, day-dreamed, and pined after this trip wholeheartedly every minute of every day for the last 3 months. It's been quite the emotional and financial investment, and I haven't even thought twice about it.
After the bike was packed up I headed home where my carefully packed panniers and lists of things not to forget sat waiting to arrive in Mexico. I decided to double check the package dimensions and regulations on american airlines, which I guarantee I already did, just to make sure I wasn't going to get hit with any extra fines. Well shit, guess what I found out? Between Nov. 21 and Jan. 10 you can't check a box, anything overweight, or any extra luggage. All there is left to do is cancel my flight, kick around and get another weird job for yet another month, and try again in January. Tenemos una cita, tu y yo, Mexico. No te preocupes que no es por un mes mas. Nos vemos pronto, es una promesa.

Always ride in style

There is one week left before I depart this country for the next long while. I've been collecting all the extraneous things that I need and really looking forward to being on the plane so that I can stop thinking about what I should and shouldn't bring. It's a lot easier to deal with what you have than to anticipate what you will need I think. Tomorrow is my last day of chauffeuring, for which I am extremely grateful, and I believe that I will do some work around my house for a few extra dollars before I head out. I tested my spot satellite transmitter today and found it to be slightly annoying to figure out, but not impossible to use. I've sent my first "ok" message with it which is now conveniently located on a map for public viewing. You can see the exact global coordinates of my parent's house if you go here: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0RceZhbklfpIYKS5Hs5M9BzqHEZONhM5K

I think that is the link to see all of my future locations. I'm trying to get this all set up so that it's super easy to navigate (which it really isn't by design). Perhaps someday I will make maps. I have very specific desires when it comes to maps, and no map has ever satisfied.

So, below are a few pictures of a bike ride a took maybe a week ago. The weather has been incredible for this time of year. It's really been the perfect training weather. Of course I train in style, but I'll be riding dirty soon enough.