The Last Day of Work

At least until Monday...

I'm both nervous and exciting about the trip. There's always a certain amount of minor anxiety that hits me when I'm about to take off on a trip like this. Will I have everything? Will the bike give me any trouble? Will the weather cooperate? I know, I know--Relax. After all, the whole point of this trip is to have fun anyway.

I still haven't bought a travel bag to put on the backrest yet, and I need to do that. I screwed up by waiting this long and not doing some comparison shopping a long time ago. I guess I concentrated on finishing the bike too much and ignored it. I stopped by Bent Bike and looked at one last night, but I didn't buy it. I guess I'll go ahead and drop the $110 on it. It's a two-piece bag set--Use either or both parts. The reason I didn't buy it was partly sticker shock and partly Bent Bike themselves. They're not exactly a "high class" motorcycle store. They deal primarily in used parts, but also have a bunch of leather goods and helmets and stuff like that. Their reputation for customer service is horrible. It's a place that almost never lets you take something back for exchange. I hate doing business there if I don't know 100% about something. Anyway, the bags are made of that cordura nylon stuff that they make backpacks out of, so you know it costs like $5 to make in whatever country they're made in. I just know I need a bag to put my clothes in that will mount either in front of the passenger backrest or behind. I want it to provide me with my reclining comfort. It really helps when the wind is pushing on you to have something behind you.
This is the next best thing to having some nice, soft breasts behind me to lean on...

My day yesterday started off great, but went sour at about 11 when my tongue totally blew up like a balloon. I have no idea why that happens, but it's happened before. Yesterday was probably the worst I've ever had it. I couldn't talk, couldn't swallow well, and it also affected my breathing a tad. Needless to say, I couldn't eat my lunch either, so I worked through it. When that happens to my tongue like that, it both pisses me off and scares me as well. I get pissed because it's embarrassing and frustrating, and it scares me because until it starts to go down I never know exactly how bad it's going to get. That is a very helpless feeling. Near as I can tell, it's some sort of hives thing. I've always been susceptible to hives, and I've been into medical facilities many times in the past when this has happened, and they've never been able to figure out why it happens or how to fix it. Their anti-inflammatory injections of cortisone or steroids (they use those for bee stings, etc) never did any good, so there's not much reason to go other than the fact that my breathing could possibly be cut off. If that happens, then I'm really in deep shit.

I haven't felt much like writing the last few days. Sometimes that just happens.

I did go off on the Harley on Sunday and went down to visit Melinda. As usual, I went unannounced, and as often happens, she wasn't home. Her husband Danny was though, and I hung out for an hour or so and visited with him. She was in Puyallup at a sort of a seminar/instruction class for her embroidery business. She has a bunch of state-of-the-art equipment for creating designs on clothing. Although I'm sorry I didn't get to see Melinda, I still enjoy going to their house. They sure have a nice place, and I'm always struck by how quiet it is there. I took the scenic back roads going down there, but flew back on the freeway. I wanted to be able to give the Harley some road time to make sure it was going to be okay for this weekend.

A couple nights ago I had to retire the comforter for the season (actually I can't believe I held out this long). I woke up in the middle of the night bathed in sweat--So much so that I had to get a towel and dry myself off. I had the window open, so it was not hot in the room at all--In fact fairly comfortable--So I knew it was time. I swapped it out for a really light acrylic cover that came in that shitty bed-in-a-bag thing I bought right after I moved here. Much better. I had to finish my sleep on the other side of the bed where it was still dry. Ewww...

Well, I hope I have a better day at work today.