Might As Well Be Walking On the Sun

St. Louis, MO

Holy cow it's hot today.  91 degrees, feels like 98.  I believe it, and let me tell you, when I'm getting ready to get on the motorcycle in a black helmet, black jacket, and long pants, it's not pleasant.


I'm currently sitting at St. Louis Bread Co. (also known as Panera outside of St. Louis), enjoying the people watching and the use of an outlet.  I'm not sure how things will work out if/when I get to areas where outlets aren't available, but my laptop tells me it has between 12 and 18 hours of charge on it, and I can charge my phone off of it, so I should be able to make it through those areas without too much trouble.

I think it finally hit me that I'm going on this trip about halfway to St. Louis yesterday.


I didn't get to leave Peoria until about 3:00 yesterday, so I was just sitting around the apartment getting the rest of stuff packed up and using the laptop.  It basically felt like a lazy Saturday, except my room was completely empty.  When I finally got on the motorcycle, it still didn't really feel like I was leaving - it even felt less like leaving than some of the vacations I've taken.  At least with vacations, there's flights to make or concerts to make it to, or people leaving with you.  This just felt like... well, getting on my motorcycle and going for a ride.

At some point though, I was riding through a small town (Roadhouse was the name of it, I think), and I thought to myself, "This is just one small town out of hundreds that I'll see this summer."  It was really that moment that I realized how big this trip is.

Last night I went to the International Tap House in Chesterfield, MO.  Also known as: heaven.  500 beers, many on tap, and good ones too.  And there was a guy playing guitar and singing who was really good, doing a few originals but mostly (good) covers, like Radiohead.

Anyway, here's a few of the pictures I took yesterday, and I'm going to try to track my actual route here: http://bit.ly/jnCviZ.

My life in a 10x25 box

Dang! I was there on Thursday, one day early

Worn down buildings in Roadhouse, IL

The back of those same buildings