Epilogue

I've been all over the world. I've been to each of the continents except for Australia and Antarctica, and I think the only US states I haven't seen are North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Hawaii.

But, none of those travel experience can match what it was like following the Protomen on their tour. I know they were probably a bit weirded out by having some fanatic follow them on a motorcycle from city to city, but if they were they never showed it. I decided to make this trip at a difficult time in my life, when I had a lot of idle time on my hands. I'll never be able to thank the band enough for their openness and kindness.

I can't think of another band that I could have seen night after night and not get bored. Each band member is extremely dedicated to his or her position in the band, and they each give 100% every single night. I really don't know how they do it; I was struggling to keep up each day on the road, and I wasn't even performing!

I can't say enough good things about this band. You can tell a lot about a band by their fans, and every single one that I met across the US were first-class people. I met one fan who has the band's logo tattooed on her arm, along with lyrics from some of their songs. I met another who had put one of the band's stickers onto his prosthetic leg, which he removed during the show in order to pump both his fist and his limb into the air during the band's encore. Talk about dedication! Suddenly, following the band around on a motorcycle in order to have the excuse to take a long-distance trip seems like child's play.

This experience went beyond music. Taking my motorcycle across the country allowed me to see a different perspective of America, of a different America than I'm used to seeing. Things are just so much freer outside of New England.

The band are playing a couple of shows in Virginia and Maryland in the next couple of days. I think I might have to hop on my bike and do this again, one last time before the summer ends.

Thanks for reading,
MD

I never finished posting the last few shows.

The last few shows kicked ass, but being on the road so much and with a companion distracted me from finishing this thing. Then, when I got home, I just kept putting it off.

It's hard for me to exactly remember when what happened where, and even in retelling some of the stories (that never made it into this public blog and never will) it was hard to me to keep everything straight: so much happened in such a short span of time, and the last couple of shows were no exception.

I remember Des Moines being a good show, despite the small crowd. The venue was pretty cool and they had really cheap drinks. The next morning my brother and I went to an Italian festival. It was funny, because nobody looked Italian at all, and I had a turkey leg for breakfast. Still, it was pretty cool, because in spite of the festival's small size, they had a lot of neat stands and whatnot.

We motored onto Springfield, MO, stopping for the night in Kansas City. I think we stayed on the Kansas side but I can't remember. Springfield was cool, with a lot of the quirks that a lot of college towns have. I guess there's a lot of meth use out there and you could definitely see it in some people.

The drinks were extremely cheap in Springfield. I was able to buy a cider for myself and a martini for someone else and it came out to $5. Needless to say, I was buying a lot of people drinks that night!

We said our goodbyes to the band that night, promised to be at the New York City show, and started driving home the next morning. It took us two days to get home. I think we stayed in Ohio, but it's kind of hard for me to keep track of, I guess I could check my credit card statement, but it doesn't really matter. All in all it was a helluva trip, by far the best vacation I've ever taken.

Missed a couple of days, but the show in Louisville, KY was pretty good. There were some issues at the venue, which was underneath a bowling alley that was closed for the night. But, the sound at the club was really clear. In terms of sound quality, this was the best night for Duane and Brando.

The next show was in Chicago, and was originally going to be my last show. On the way there, I stopped at a gas station and saw an article on the front page of some local periodical that had a tape machine. Being into that stuff, I took a closer look, and although it was really about the Beatles, the pictures they used were actually from the 1979 studio I had just been to the other day!

Chicago was the last night for Duane and Brando and the Super 8-Bit Brothers. The crowd was riotous and by far this was everyone's best performance.

Before the show I rode around Chicago a bit. I was a little disappointed by the city at first, lots of trash everywhere, lots of people asking for money, and tons of construction. It's as if the city decided to do construction on nearly every single street, but then decided not to finish it. But, I got to hang out a bit in the downtown area and it was pretty cool. There's a place called Kuma's Corner that serves heavy metal burgers. I got the Black Sabbath burger, which had blackening spice, chili, pepper jack, and red onion.

My brother met me in Chicago and we went to the show together, staying at his friend's house for the night.


We've decided to see the next two shows in Des Moines, Iowa and Springfield, Missouri before heading home. I also decided to ship back my motorcycle so we can deal with just a single vehicle.

We saw some weird stuff on the way to Des Moines. We stopped at a gas station where the 89 octane fuel was actually cheaper than the 87 octane by about 10 cents. There were also two slot machines in the gas station that you could gamble on in order to try and win store credit. That was $5.00 I'm never getting back...

We also saw two really low-flying aircraft. One was a mid-wing sport plane and the other a biplane. The biplane was flying extremely close to the ground, and although it wasn't doing aerobatics, it was doing some pretty tight maneuvers. We saw it go past a hill, and then we didn't see it again. Later, we saw a huge cloud of smoke that filled the same side of the horizon. I hope it made it.

Des Moines is a pretty empty town. I hope it's a good show tonight.

I'll upload some pics later.

The show in Chattanooga, Tennessee the other night was pretty cool.

The venue was in a strip mall, which brought back memories of playing at Curly's Coffee in Amherst, NH. The venue is part of, or is operated by, a church, confirming my belief that the Protomen are gods among men.

However, the sound at the club was terrible. Despite this major setback the Protomen still kicked ass. The next night's show in Murfreesboro was canceled because, according to Panther, the club blew up. To make up for it, the Protomen played an extended set, even doing an encore that lasted close to 30 minutes.

I returned to the Knight's Inn after the show, getting good use out of the jacuzzi.

Today I rode into Murfreesboro, TN, which is where the Protomen are from. On the way, I passed a sign that said I was near the Jack Daniels Distillery. Figuring it was right off the highway, I thought I'd stop by to check it out. In reality, the distillery is about 30 minutes off the highway. I eventually got there and checked out the museum, but didn't end up taking a tour. The tour is about an hour long, I would have had to have waited for one to begin, the tour is mostly outdoors, and I had already taken a chunk of time getting to the distillery. Still, the museum was pretty interesting.

I finally rolled into Murfreesboro and decided to check out the Middle Tennessee State University -- what a nice campus! I guess their school of Mass Communications is one of the best in the United States, and they have an excellent recording program. Don't believe me? Listen to any of the Protomen's recordings.

I hung low in Murfreesboro for the night, making up for lost sleep over the past week. I ate at a Mexican restaurant called Acapulco's, then hung low on Sunday as well at the motel, but did get a chance to go to Nashville to check out the 1979 Recording Studio - which is an awesome, 7,000 square foot all analog recording studio. The staff there were really kind to show me around.




That night I had dinner at a Hardee's, which to me is nearly identical to Carl's, Jr. I wonder if they're owned by the same company or something. A kid that worked there talked to me about motorcycles for awhile, then I headed back to the motel.

Did some laundry this morning where a guy who apparently hangs out there every day talked to me about his upstart ethanol business, motorcycles from the 1970's I've never heard of, and football players from probably two generations ago. It was kinda weird, how he kept going on, but at least it passed the time, somewhat...

Now I'm hanging at a Wendy's in Nashville, watching the skies for rain, and planning my route to Lousiville, Kentucky.

Woke up and had a visitor on my bike. He scared the crap out of me when I first noticed him peering at me.

The ride to Chattanooga was easy. I was able to do it with only one tank of gas. It was cool riding into the Smokey Mountains. I decided for a change to rent a motel before the show, that way I could kind of take it easy beforehand. They screwed up the reservation and gave my non-smoking room away, so I ended up getting a room with a hot tub for the same rate! Not too shabby...

Off to dinner, then it's show-time!

I left for Atlanta, GA after getting some juevos rancheros at a Mexican restaurant. I hit a little bit of rain, but didn't bother putting on the rain gear because it was just a sprinkle and it was really hot and humid. About a half hour later, in the distance I thought I saw fog past an overpass. I thought about stopping to put on the rain gear, but pressed on.

That was my big mistake for the day.

The "fog" was actually a huge rainstorm that I got caught in. Visibility was nil and I left the highway as soon as I could. I stopped at a Home Depot in the contractor's area, changed clothes in the bathroom, dried my seat, and waited for the storm to die down before throwing on the rain gear and heading out again. The rest of the trip wasn't bad, with intermittent sunshine and rain.

I eventually arrived in Atlanta and hung out around the area, which seemed equal parts college town and dangerous. The area we were in, which was called Five Points, had that whole Boulder-hippie vibe, but with lots of graffiti and bars on all the windows. The area looked a like a not as nice version of Columbia, SC, which is odd because that area was called Five Points as well.

I ate an awesome guacamole and pepperjack burger at a place called the Vortex, which had this giant skull you had to walk through in order to get into the door. They also had burgers like the Elvis burger, which has peanut butter, bacon, and a bunch of other things that shouldn't go together in it. Next to the Vortex was a liquor store, and inside they sold flat water in glass bottles, which is something I've been saying they ought to do for years. I bought a couple of bottles over the course of the afternoon and evening.

Figuring there is safety in numbers, I parked my motorcycle next to a couple of other bikes in the parking lot. It must be some meet-up area for bikers, because within a couple hours there must have been 100 bikes there!

The venue, the Star Bar, was right across the street. The venue was pretty small and it didn't seem like the staff knew what they were doing, but everything came out sounding great. The Protomen opened, which meant they had a shorter set, but because of that every song they did was killer. I also got to see How I Became the Bomb, which is a band the Protomen have often played with in their hometown. It was cool to see a different take on the whole snyth-pop/guitar rock thing, my buddy Milvestro would be all about that band.

I left about the time the final band was ending, winding my day down at a really nice Motel 6. I didn't think those words would ever go together in a sentence, but it was a pretty nice establishment.

On to Chattanooga, Tennessee tomorrow!

Each night keeps getting better and better.

Columbia, SC is a cute little college town that reminds me of Boulder, Colorado.

The venue was a cool building with bricks walls inside, but the room was large enough so that the brick didn't present any sound problems.

The Protomen opened with "How the World Fell Under Darkness" and also played "Will of One" and "The Sons of Fate," which is the first time I've heard them do those songs since picking up up this leg of the tour. They also did a cover I wasn't familiar with that I'll have to look up.

Tomorrow in Atlanta they'll be playing with different bands, which will be refreshing, but they won't be headlining.

Checked into the hotel around 3:30, went to sleep at 5, and checked out before 11 - all in the AM. I would think these 5 AM nights would be taking their toll on me, but strangely they haven't affected me much. When I've been sleeping it's been very deep.

More Rain, More Weirdness

I'm starting to establish a routine here. Breakfast at Denny's, got on the road to travel to Columbia, SC. The trip was mostly uneventful, except for two things.

About 30 miles outside of Columbia I could see a huge storm in the distance. Pulled over, through on the gear, and glad I did because it rained buckets for a little while. But, it cleared up pretty quickly, and with the sun baking down on me, my suit dried in about 20 minutes.

As I pulled into Columbia, it reminded me of North Reading's Route 28. Not a big place, not a lot going. Out of nowhere appears this monstrous stadium. Monstrous isn't even a strong enough word to describe the structure, because there is very little around it, so it's such a sharp contrast. I guess the South Carolina Gamecocks play there. That's when things got weird again. The sign was inviting me to buy tickets for the 2001 football season.

This is the second time in just a few days I've been somewhere and there's been something really wrong with the date. There was the whole Ron Paul incident in New Jersey, and now this. Have I been riding my motorcycle so fast that it's torn a hole into the time space continuum? I'm beginning to think that the sign I photographed on the door at Jack Rabbit's wasn't kidding (see Day 4, 3rd picture down).

I'm at the laundromat now, killing time before the show, killing some dirty laundry before the show, too.

Kick ass!

I slept in today, just making the 11 AM checkout time. Breakfast at Denny's, then on the road towards Savannah.

I passed a sign for the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum, which sounded interesting, and I thought would be a great way to kill a couple of hours. It was amazing! When I was younger, I could identify nearly all of the fighter planes and bombers used in WWII, so it was wonderful to be able to see planes like the P-51 and the B-17. The Museum was really well done, and if you have any interest in military aviation at all I'd recommend stopping by.

I stayed at the Museum for about 3 hours before heading to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, then arriving to the venue. The venue is in an interesting part of Savannah, across the street from the Boys II Men Barber Shop and next to a liquor store where a bunch of people were sipping from brown bags. They were already eying my bike, so I figured when in Savannah, do as the Savannans do and got a small bottle of Morgan David 20 Red. I talked to one gentleman who had moved to the area two months ago, and he told me about the government upstart program that allowed him to take college classes for free through government grants. Across the street was a mission and we watched a drunken man collapse off of the five gallon bucket he was sitting on right into the street. My new friend told me to watch out, that people would be going after him in a minute to go through his pockets. Fortunately one of his friends -- or at least someone who was concerned and not afraid of him -- helped him up and set him back in a better spot.

Some other Protofans arrived and we began talking about other shows, where everyone was from, etc. A limping man who worked at the club approached me and asked me to help him to get some ice for the night. I got in his car, which made my messy car look immaculately clean and organized in comparison. I jokingly asked if he was living out of his car, but it impossible hard to tell in spite of his response whether he was sincere or not. There were bits of food scraps all over the place, it seriously looked like he may have been foraging for his food. We sarcastically took jabs at each other the whole time as I realized that he was righteously stoned. The ice machine gave us trouble and we only ended up getting one bag. He played loud techno music, so I think his car also functions as a dance club. He asked me if I minded if he smoked;, I told him since were were in his house, it was his rules.

I met a few more fans of the band and resisted the urge, as best I could, to bother the band while they were loading in. I figured after the show would be a better time to bother them.

Duane and Brando rocked the house. It was really cool because they switched up their set quite a bit from last night. I didn't really hang around for 8-bit Brothers.

The Protomen absolutely destroyed the place. They made up for the shortcomings of last night's set by at least 300%. The again opened with "Give Us the Rope," into "How the World Fell Under Darkness," and then, if memory serves correctly they played "Breaking Out," "Keep Quiet," "Father of Death," and "The Hounds." They also did a cover of "Shadows of the Night," which Gambler totally kicked ass on, and Turbo Lover annihilated a cover of "Ballroom Blitz." I'm fuzzy on the order for the last few songs, but I remember that "Hope Rides Alone" and "Due Vendetta" were played. They sound checked with an entertaining cover of "Love Isn't Always on Time." One of the fans had a prosthetic leg to which he had a affixed a giant Protoman sticker. During the show, he removed the appendage and pumped it in the air in rhythm to the music. I've never seen anything so badass. After the show, he got his leg signed by everyone in the band.

I can't overemphasize how awesome it was to see the Protomen to be in their element, with everything appearing to work correctly. The crowd went insane.

I apologize for the lack of coherence during this post, but it's after 5 AM and I'm still up from after the show.

Day 4

Wow! I feel like a lot happened yesterday, I'll do my best to remember it all.

Since I started the day not far from Jacksonville (somewhere in South Carolina, just north of Savannah, Georgia), I took the opportunity to sleep in. I ate at a Shoney's and figured I'd do the southern thang and ordered eggs and grits.I hopped on the highway and it didn't take too long to drive through Georgia thanks to the 70 mph speed limits. Just into Florida I stopped at a gas station that also sold and shipped fruit. The gas pumps were interesting for two reasons: 1- They asked you to be careful with the gasoline, in order to prevent another BP spill, and 2- Charles Bronson is the Commissioner of Something or Other in the state of Florida, which is pretty badass.
I made it into Jacksonville and just missed a massive sun-shower, which was a nice change of pace. I waited it out in a burrito place that served some pretty killer tacos that was right next to the venue. I knew the venue was in the vicinity, but I wasn't quite sure where it was, so I asked a burrito worker who informed me it was a real "hole in the wall" that was right next to their restaurant.

I drove past the venue, and even walked past it twice before I noticed where it was. I hung out at the burrito place for a couple of hours until the show was about to begin.
When it opened up, the venue turned out to be really cool. Not a huge place, but it's an all ages club with a beer and wine bar. They even served every variety of Woodchuck Cider I've ever heard of, so that made the place A-OK in my book.
I made a local Jacskonvillian named Jimmy. We talked for a while about life down there and the turmoils of being in a band which was pretty cool.

There are two duos that are opening up for the Protomen on a lot of dates on this tour. I thought the first group, the Adventures of Duane and Brando, was going to be kind of lame, but they ended up being really entertaining. They had a video screen that synced up with their performance, which was about the woes of being a hero in a number of NES titles. It was kind of like gangster-rap Nintendo style, but with the video and everything it was hilarious. The other group, Super 8 Bit Brothers, were alright, just a little too avante garde for my liking and not really my style.
The Protomen took and the stage and rocked the house. They opened with "Give Us the Rope," which was interesting but a helluva way to start the show. They worked their way into "How the World Fell Under Darkness" and not long after, suffered a major problem when the Reanimator broke his snare stand. The band did an excellent job filling in for this major gape while they tried to create a workable solution. The audience was very understanding, and in my opinion were still astonished at being able to see the Protomen play live despite this problem. Once a solution was reached, the band rocked on, ending their set with a cover of "Mr. Roboto."

I left the venue at about 1:15 AM and tried to figure out what to do for lodging. I remembered seeing a chain of motels called the King's Inn that looked alright. What I didn't realize at the time was that the chain is actually called the Knight's Inn, but by coincidence, there is a King's Inn in Jacksonville. I drove a few miles to get there, and even though they wanted $50 for the night, I figured it was worth it to just be able to call it quits at that point. When I got to the motel, a few things struck me as odd. The staff person was behind what appeared to be bulletproof glass and they had a policy where you could get a refund within 15 minutes of receiving your key, if you didn't like your room. I knew these were bad things, but at this point I was just so tired I figured I'd give it a chance.

Big mistake.

The room only had one functioning light, which was in the bathroom. When I finally I found it and switched it on, I saw the filthy dump I had just rented. The bed was unmade, the hole-filled sheets were obviously soiled. I hopped on the bike and promptly got a refund.

Somewhat desperate, I stopped at another motel I noticed down the street. But, seeing a large numebr of prostitutes on the street, I figured I'd better check out online reviews before going inside. I'm glad I did, and for your own entertainment you can read those reviews here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60805-d120158-Reviews-Regency_Inn_Jacksonville-Jacksonville_Florida.html

Finally, I got back on 95 North and stayed at a Country Hearth Motel. They advertised free wifi, which was only a half-truth, but the room was clean and cheaper than staying at the hellhole in Jacksonville.

Rain Delay

Kept on 95 South, stopping for a bite and some gas in North Carolina. Where I first got gas was pretty desolate. The pumps were very old and everyone that kept pulling up to the station were listening to Mexican Polka music.

Just outside of South Carolina I could see the sky changing. It looked like a tiny storm system that was about to pass over from the south and west, so I pressed on trying to beat it. I ended up beating that one, but there was a much larger storm further south. I parked under a bridge and slipped on my rain gear as quickly as I could, but the rain started accumulating so fast that huge puddles formed by the underpass so me and the bike got soaked.

I kept riding, and although the storm initially got better, it then took a turn for the worse. It rained buckets and at some points I got pelted with hail. I stopped near South of the Border (Fort Pedro) at some cheap no-tell motel, drying my gear as best I could. There were tons of signs advertising this great South of the Border place, but it ended up looking dumpier than the fake Mexico in Story Land. I can't really believe they're able to advertise the way they do, with the borderline racist signs, but I'm a stranger in a strange land.

I stayed put for a couple of hours at the motel and the rain eventually cleared up. The lady running the motel was a little confused that I was leaving so soon, so maybe they don't do a lot of by the hour business. As a precautionary measure I kept the raingear on, but was able to take it off the next time I got gas.

I pushed on through and made it just north of Savannah, Georgia after dusk. I saw an advert for a Mexican place that does delivery, and I jokingly asked if they'd deliver margaritas. They said they certainly would, so, not only was I eating enchiladas, but I was sipping on a Don Julio margarita out of a styrofoam cup. Not a bad end to the day.

I don't have much further to go to reach Jacksonville. I don't have a stereo on the bike, so I've had a ton of different songs in my head, and "The Hounds" has been coming up a lot frequently.

Day 2

Made it all the way to Richmond, VA without too many hangups.

The morning started in New Jersey. The Turnpike smells like the Lynnway – only worse and longer. The whole state is weird. For instance, if you're off the highway and want to take a left turn, you can't. You'd have to take a right turn to go to a special roundabout for that purpose, which will then allow you to go straight after your right turn. Also, when I got to my bike, I noticed somebody had plastered Vote Ron Paul in 2008 election propaganda all over people's cars during the night. That's weird, right?

I pressed on until I reached Delaware.

Right before entering into Delaware I happened on a motorcycle run of firefighters. This run was huge and was escorted by firetrucks and ambulances. There were a lot of people on the highway overpasses taking pictures and waving for miles, it was pretty cool.

Before today, there's not much I could say for Delaware. Apparently it's the first state, but I wouldn't have thought they have much more going for them. I couldn't have been more wrong. I met some of the friendliest people, the way the highway was set up actually made sense with the EZ Pass Express Lanes, and it just overall seems like a decent place to live. Outside a Denny's there were a bunch of kids having a car wash. As I passed they told me they do motorcycles, too, so I figured what the hell, why not? The kids were part of some program called Kids Are People Too, so I'm glad to hear they're finally standing up for their rights. I got breakfast inside the Denny's while they went to work on my bike and they did a helluva good job so I gave them a little more than what they were asking.

From there I rerouted to find a Wal-Mart. That was the big mistake for the day. It was kind of out of the way, and although they're supposed to sell T-Mobile phone accessories, they didn't. I really needed to buy a charger for my phone, because I stupidly left mine back home. The entire electronics department was being renovated and it was just a pain getting in and out of there with the bike and my luggage. I did buy a belt – a 34” finally, but it's almost too small! Do they even make 35's”?

I rode through Baltimore. I can't remember exactly when the last time I was there. Baltimore is where I was born, but I probably haven't been back in about 17 years. It was very industrial looking and reminded me of New Jersey, which was depressing.

I passed an exit for the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and thought about stopping, but I'm already a little behind and dealing with the motorcycle luggage is a serious pain. I know they have lockers at the Smithsonian, but I'd probably have to use two of them just to handle it.

Traffic got heavy outside of DC, so I took the opportunity to find a mall and get the T-Mobile charger I needed. To deal with the traffic I rerouted and unwittingly took Route 29, which runs right through Manassas, VA, which was the site of the Battle of Bull Run. I stopped at one of the sites but pretty much pressed on through. It certainly gave me a different perspective on the battle, seeing the site and where all the hills and clearings are. Again, I could have gotten off the bike, but dealing with the luggage would have prevented me from walking far. I would have loved to have taken pictures from the bike, but that's just irresponsible.

I resisted the urge to stop at the Stonewall Jackson Shrine.

I made my way to Route 234 which catches up with 95 in Dumfries, VA. I stopped at a couple places looking for somewhere to eat, but it was all garbage. I settled on a place called the MontClair Family Restaurant, because there were no other options around. It was a real treat! Apparently I have a knack for sniffing out the Greek establishments. The MontClair had a lamb shank special that was amazing – the meat just fell right off the bone. For desert they even had rice pudding.

From the restaurant I made a hotel reservation at a Super 8 near Richmond. It's not bad, not as nice as last night's stay, but it's about half the price. There are a lot of kids and gangster types making a lot of noise. I feel right at home.

I have to really push on tomorrow if I want to make Jacksonville by Monday night.

I haven't used one of these things since 2003.

So, I'm embarking on this great American adventure of the Southeast. My favorite indy band, the Protomen, are touring the South and I thought this would be a great time to follow their shows for about a week or so. After that, I'll be meeting up with my brother, who's working on a documentary about laser tag competitions, and we'll ride back home.

I'm taking this trip on my 2000 Honda Valkyrie motorcycle. My venerable Valkyrie is essentially a stripped down Goldwing, complete with a flat-6 cylinder engine and a couple of comfort modifications.

I have until Monday night to reach Jacksonville, Florida where the Protomen are performing at a club called Jack Rabbits. I meant to leave Thursday afternoon, but was not able to leave until late Friday.

My trip didn't start off so hot. I wanted motorcycle gloves that would cover more than just my wrist (in case of rain) and a new belt. I rode out of my way, up to this place called US Made Leather on Route 1 that does awesome custom leather work. Unfortunately, they don't carry any gloves like that until winter, and trying to find a belt in my size was just about impossible. I settled for a 36, but apparently even that was too large and now I'm stuck with it. All the belts were either way too short or way too long; either she carries belts for oddly shaped people, or mine is such a popular size that they can't even keep them on the shelves.

I really wanted to wash my bike before my trip. I went to a self-serve car wash and everything went pretty well. But, about three miles from the car wash, some liquid substance on the highway hit my fuel tank. I tried to wipe it off with my glove, but it just made a mess. Not long after this, I hit Boston traffic, and ended up going to Logan airport to circumvent it and get to the Mass. Pike a different way.

It was smooth sailing all the way until about 30 miles outside of New York City. At this point it was about 5 o'clock and I figured it'd be a great time to get something to eat and wait out the rush hour traffic. I had some McDonald's where there was a young girl's soccer team just running around making a lot of noise. It was nice to see them having fun, but the chaperons really just didn't care and it was annoying. I met a trucker who was broken down and he started talking to me about '80s metal, and the scene around Philadelphia and New Jersey. It's funny how people know what to talk about with me. I told him about seeing Cinderella the other night and Doug's band opening for them. The trucker knew the lead singer from Cinderella, Tommy Something, and told me how Bon Jovi helped him get his start. I ended up leaving the rest area not long after 7 o'clock and the soccer girls were still there raising hell.

The traffic was much improved until I got closer to the George Washington Bridge. I guess due to construction and the nature of New York City everything was just slow as could be. I kept riding until I hit New Jersey and gassed up there.

New Jersey has a law that says ordinary people (you, not me apparently) can't fill up their own gas tanks. There was no way in hell I was going to let anyone else fill up my tank, because there's a trick to it on my bike, and if you don't do it right, gas spills all over the place. I had trouble understanding the guy, but he he let me fill my tank. That rest area was weird: it was kind of like the movie Idiocracy: I could make out each word the guy was saying, but put together none of it made any sense! I talked to a couple of other people at the rest area ("Where's the bathroom?" "How much is this?") but again, it was really hard to communicate for some odd reason. There was only person who made any sense, but by that time I was kinda freaked out and wanted to get out of there and back on the road. A guy on a BMW started talking to me about my bike and his bike. He was restoring his bike, which was from 1977. It was in excellent shape and I'd have never guessed it was that old.

I wanted to ride for another 100 miles or so but the New Jersey Turnpike was weird. It had gotten dark and I became one of the slower vehicles on the road. I decided after a little while to stop at the next hotel, of which I didn't see any advertised. About 50 miles in I saw a sign for a few of them, and using my phone decided to stay at the Days Inn, because it was easier to find and cheaper than the Holiday Inn across the street.

Had some Johnny Walker Black at the bar with some English guys who are touring the US and Canada. The barmaid asked me where I was from, to which my response elicited a, "I'll bet you're a Red Sox fan." No, not so much, I don't follow baseball. I paid and tipped her, after which she said, "Go Yankees!"

There's only one thing that annoys me more than Red Sox fans... Yankees fans.

We'll see what tomorrow brings!