robertrankin.org

(image from rubikzube)

This blog, and it’s lazy-ass writer are on vacation for the next 2 weeks. I’ll be surfing, and rafting my way around the pacific coast of Costa Rica with some pals.

Nice looking CSS tab-style menus from OverZone. Free for commercial or private use. (via EB)

37Signals just published Getting Real, their Web App-building manifesto.

I’m enjoying Meg’s new and delicious megnut.com - a food blog.

River to River NYC. Get on this list and see a weekly list of free NYC events all summer long. Events start June 1, and look pretty good!

“Over 60% of people are risking their oral health by using whatever is closest to hand to remove food from between their teeth, a survey found. ’A screwdriver is hardly the most flexible of items and I don’t think people realise the damage this could do to their gums.’ Other implements people admitted using to get rid of trapped food included keys, paper clips, matchsticks, earrings, nail files, pencils, cards and forks.” I normally use a folded up piece of paper.

A great looking loft, and a clever use of limited space.

Hilarious series of Thanks You letters at: McSweeney’s: Thanks For The Intervention

Great collection of photos from the Greenpoint Terminal Market, which was destroyed by fire a few weeks ago.

I checked weather.com before I left. Seeing a chance of rain every day in the direction I was headed, and clear beautiful weekend ahead in NYC, I briefly considered bagging the weekend and just sticking around NYC. I decided it wouldn’t be that bad to get a little wet. I’d come to reconsider that.
 

Friday, I was off the island of Manhattan by 3PM. I made 3 good, solid, high-speed hours right off the bat, seeing me to somewhere in Maryland. From DC to Richmond, the traffic on I95 is always shit, and Friday was no different. Stop and go. Slowness and frustration for a good 2 hours until 295 took me around Richmond. By now it was getting dark and I was eager to make some time so I could make my target for the night, Rocky Mount, NC, at a reasonable hour. I was cooking when suddenly I see those lights behind me. Yep. Smoky. I pull over into the right lane, mentally reviewing my financial status to see if I can afford the whopper I’m about to get, when he blows by me. Holy Shit?! Well, I counted my blessing and pushed on.
 

Almost immediately after I crossed the NC border it started to rain. I should of stopped on the border, where there are a large selection of hotels, but it had just began to rain lightly, and I thought I could make it to RM before the real rain came. I made it about 20 miles until it started to come down. Unfortunately I had 20 more miles to go, and turning around wasn’t an option. I continued on and got wet. I made it to RM by 11:30, checked into a super 8, unloaded the bike in the rain, hung up my gear in front of the fan, got a hot shower, and hit the sack. In that order.
 

Saturday I was on the road before the sun came up. I had about 400 miles to go to make it to Edisto and I needed to be there by noon to meet the gang I was planning to see. A nice morning of riding on a boring interstate. I tried for the first time listening to my iPod while riding. Pretty cool. There’s too much road noise to listen to a book on tape or language lessons, but music is cool. First time I had mixed The Misfits and motorcycling. A good experience.
 

Arrived at Edisto just past 11 with time to spare, so I stopped at a roadside eatery for some southern BBQ ribs. The place was literally nothing more than a table under a tarp.  The ribs were delicious, and the place was crowded with locals stopping by for their lunch.
 

Spent some time relaxing and walking around on the beach waiting for the gang to arrive. I finally fell asleep on a bench in Henry’s yard until a dozen motorcycles pulled into the yard waking me up. They had all met up the night before at Henry’s farm and had a nice party by the looks of a couple hung-over faces…
 

We hung out for a while then we all rode back to Henry’s farm for the night. Henry is Lee’s dad. Lee died last year on May 4th. The reason for the weekend, the ride to Edisto and the party are in memory of Lee. 
 

Saturday evening we ate and drank and ate and drank. Someone pulled out a banjo and a guitar. Alice’s restaurant was sung. It’s all good. I was beat from the past two days and was out by 11pm.
 

Sunday I woke to what I would live for the next 20 hours. Rain. Although it briefly stopped in the morning when we departed (Mark joined me for the ride home - He’d made it to SC via Chicago where he picked up a new bike, a banana-yellow BMW RS1100), it started after an hour. It was shit. I don’t mind riding in the rain. It’s OK for an hour or two. But I will tell you that one of the worst feelings is being cold and wet and knowing that you have 500 miles ahead of you, and knowing that you have to go to work the next day. That is some depressing shit. My saving grace was the iPod. (And Ephedrine, but that’s a topic for another post.)
 

In full riding gear, in light to moderate rain, it takes a while to really get wet. Nearly every piece of motorcycle gear is rated 100% waterproof, and it would be if you just dipped it in water or misted it with a perfume bottle in a lab. However, at 80 MPH in driving rain, it all leaks. Even the PVC rain suit leaked. One exception, are my Vasque hiking boots. My right boot got water inside from the top, since my pant-leg rode up over the top. Bu the left foot stayed dry hour after hour through  the driving rain. Incredible, actually. They are one of the best pieces of equipment - motorcycling, hiking, backpacking or other - I have ever owned.
 

Anyway, I’m still a little wrecked. But I feel OK. It was good to have a nice long ride, but the rain surely sucked. Long rides are meditative for me. C asked me what happened on the ride down, if anything interesting happened, etc, and aside from what I’ve mentioned here, I don’t remember. It’s a time to zone out and allow my mind to focus on just the road and bike. It’s refreshing.

1720 + miles. 2.5 days.

As Lee would have said, Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’! We missed ya, Lee. 

I have you in my sights, mighty June. I feel you with every fiber. I’m anxious to be wrapped in your days and your ways and to see the doors you’ll open for me.

Lots of things happening in June. Yup. June.