8/22/06

I've got nothing. I didn’t send yesterday’s rant because it was just that, a rant. The laptop is pissing me off and I said it would be replaced by a Mac when it dies. That’s about all there was to it. I got an e-mail from the Birkin owners mailing list stating that Dick Brink, a man in his sixties, will be going to the Tail of the Dragon thing next summer. He said we should organize another Tour of sorts to get there. It’s kind of hard to wimp out on driving my car up there if he’s going to do it. I mean, really. I told the group that I wouldn’t be the lone hold out if everyone else were driving theirs. I think with a helmet on, the drive shouldn’t be too tough. I might suggest breaking the trip into three days though. Five hours in a Seven for three days will be bad enough. I'm not sure if I mentioned this plan so I'll do it again. What I need to do some Saturday is grab my helmet, fill the car with gas, and drive around Loop 820 for as long as I can stand it. That would be better, I think, than trying to drive out to Abilene and back, which would simulate about half way to Tail of the Dragon. I can’t help worrying about a breakdown. I know, a breakdown on I-20 between here and Abilene would be easier to be rescued from than a breakdown between here and Tail of the Dragon, but a breakdown on Loop 820 would be easier still. Of course the open freeway experience of I-20 to and from Abilene would be a better representation of the open freeway jaunt to the Tail of the Dragon. I just had a look at a map. It looks like Memphis is about halfway between here and Tail of the Dragon. It also looks like here to Abilene and back isn’t quite the same distance as here to Memphis. I'd have to drive to Sweetwater and back. Interesting. Hopefully, more than one of the local Seven owners who are planning to go will want to tow their cars. I'd probably get better mileage in the Seven though. No, I would definitely get better mileage in the Seven! I need to look into a rooftop air-conditioning unit, like an RV, for Mr. Wiggly. I think one of those and a wall behind the seats would make Mr. Wiggly viable for this venture. It depends on whether those units are 12-volt or 110-volt. I wouldn’t want to try and run a 110-volt unit on a power inverter all day while driving. Of course a 110-volt unit for the back and a “swamp cooler” unit for the cockpit might work. The 110-volt A/C would only be used when parked overnight at a campsite with power hookups. I need to look into the options. I have that 12-volt RV water pump I could use for the “swamp cooler” if I decide to go that route. I need to find out exactly how a “swamp cooler” works though. I think I know, but I'm not 100% sure. Then again, I could just sweat it out. I don’t know. I did ask Ray the other day if I could rent his truck for this thing. He said if he doesn’t have a race that he’s committed to that weekend that we could probably work something out. It sounded like he’d be coming along as well though. That wouldn’t be so bad I would think. We’ll see. I invited John to go but got no answer. I'm taking that to be a tentative “no” though. I haven’t mentioned it to Pat yet. I'm not sure why this thing has me so worked up; I have almost a whole year before it happens. Of course that will be a few months, then a month, then a week, and then tomorrow before you know it. I will have talked myself out of it by then too, probably. Juan never knows. Well, I had to step away for a while and now my train of thought has derailed. I suppose I could go back and read to try and figure out what I was talking about, but we all know I'm far too lazy for that. In fact, I think I'm going to call it a day, in here at least, and say I'll talk to y’all tomorrow.