Joel Perlish; USA/MEXICO/CANADA DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY & THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008 by Joel Perlish

Joel Perlish; USA/MEXICO/CANADA DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY & THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008 by Joel Perlish

July 2, 2008 - Wednesday - Day 2
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
-- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 0 - Total Miles - 277 Average Daily Miles (travel days) - 277
Charlottesville,VA
(-staying at Mike Shane's -)
(VA)

Awoke to the great view of the forest and fresh air in Mike's back bedroom. It was odd not to be moving today, on the second day of a journey. But it was a good day with Mike. And it had friendship and new experiences and learning - so what could be bad?

I spent the first part of the day laying on that comfy mattress with the MacBook resting on my belly and typing away about the first day's experiences.

Around mid-morning, Mike and I set out for downtown Charlottesville. He said I would enjoy it, and he was right! It's a great setting of shops and stores and vendors in a many block long area. It gives good vibes and is clean and has friendly folks all around. I took a bunch of pictures of interesting and historical things. And it's litter-free - even a wall there just for graffiti!

We stopped into the private high school nearby where Nell teaches. I noticed the yellow scooter outside the place, and inside we found Michael at the desk. A teacher and administrator at the school, the fellow possesses a friendly smile and manner. I turned and showed him the back of my vest which has info about the journey, and before I could even tell him he could keep up with the trip email-wise, he was on the website and looking things over. Just amazing!!! (I got a good laugh out of the fellow, as I said to Mike - purposely and within earshot, “Hey if he keeps the website link, he'll be reading about this tomorrow!!!”

Michael gave us a tour of the school and it was delightful chatting with him.

After leaving, Mike and I resumed walking and talking and taking in the delightful atmosphere of the downtown Charlottesville area. Mike said that although the ravages of the civil war were all around the town, for some reason Charlottesville escaped most of the mayhem.


By-the-way, I looked up and found out that the town was named after Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818), the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom. Charlotte, NC was also named after her - she must have been quite a lady!!! (If you have the inclination, you can find information about her at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

We came back to check on Moochie the schnauzer around 12:30ish… I took a nice restful hour or so nap, and then Mike took me to Nell's home. It's the place where he will be moving into shortly. Didn't make sense for them to be together all the time - and want to be together - and still support two different residences. In the downstairs area Nell had a massage table and often gave massages for extra cash. A member of the professional masseuse organization, she had a good touch, and some of my muscles were feeling very fine… At times I felt transported, and the hour felt and flew by like a second.

I caught a cool picture of a bee on a flower outside Nell's place. She explained that Shirley had some bee hives in the back of the place.


Mike and I then went to a local Staples where I got some special type binder clips - ones to hold directions onto my windshield - something I devised. May also use them as a sun shield for the GPS which is surprisingly helpful at times, but is too splashed in sunlight at other times to be seen. I believe, had I to do it over again, I would have had the ability to keep the battery going by wiring it into the mc battery done before I left. I've heard of this being done, and now see the reason for it.

As I was leaving Staples a fellow in mc gear and a Harley shirt was walking in. I introduced myself, and before long we were swapping some stories. Turns out he and a buddy had recently been riding the Alaska Highway. He said if it weren't for the 'holes in the road and the moose' it would have been a better trip. His riding buddy hit a moose and did quite a bit of damage to the bike and himself - the guy spent three weeks in the hospital, reported Carl. The lady behind us in line added to the conversation and thought we were talking about being in a car. When she heard it was a motorcycle her eyes about popped out of her head.

We talked bikes awhile, and he told me of a number of the cycles he had. A friendly guy, I asked if he knew I rode a Kawasaki whether as a Harley rider he still would have talked to me? (There is a usually friendly, but sometimes not so friendly, rivalry between Harley riders and Everyone Else.) He said, “Hell yes, it doesn't matter WHAT you ride, just as long as you ride!” A great answer. He wanted to keep up with my trip, and gave me a card with his email address on it. Out in the parking lot I got a shot of his good-looking bright blue Harley which reminded me of my Honda Shadow. His license plate was “7VAHOG”… It was near another plate that I liked an awful lot - “ULTRAJP”… It reminded me of a plate I spied yesterday while riding but couldn't get a picture of - “DRJOEL”! (By-the-way, my all-time favorite plate was seen in Los Angeles during my cross-country bicycle ride - a drop-dead gorgeous woman was stepping out of the car - causing one of my very very rare close calls with an accident. Anyway, as I regained my balance - and composure - and went past the car, I looked back and saw that her plate read, “XSTACY 1”!

When back to the apartment. I took my daily run and also got a bike ride in down at the gym facility here at the rental complex. The running haul up the huge hill was a grind, but I made it okay… Will do the same first thing in the morning to get the bike ride and run in…

(Much of what is written here might be in pictures which can be found at http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141)

----- TOMORROW: ON THE ROAD AGAIN! -----

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