FF update

[Thumper 0]

Well here's the update. Hands down the worst trip I've ever taken.
Since gas is so high I decided to bike down (300 miles) in the middle of the night (waterskiing all day) and froze my butt off(freak cold front), right knee was swollen and aching the whole way and I now remember why I hate long trips on my crotch rocket.
Sat. morning ran the last 100 miles on 4 hours sleep, nice sunny weather, found the hanger door closed and locked. Called the JM and was told they decided not to jump today and that he'd tried to call me. JM asked, was I still at home? heh.
I decided to take highways instead of the interstate for a little variety and the fact that it should knock 100 or so miles of the trip. Starts off with mountain roads and small picturesque mining towns (75 through the 35mph twisties) and I think that the weekend might not be shot. 30 miles later the mountains end and all I can see are the plains and bare road. Not a cloud in sight and the nice sunny day had turned into an all day ride on the surface of the sun. I feel like I'm sitting in a mircrowave, so off come the leathers and the helmet. Now I feel like I'm in front of a blast furnace. Lovely. My butt's getting pretty tender also. At this point I'm pretty sure that I will never again forget why I hate long crotch rocket road trips.
Long story short, 5 hours later (what the?!?) I arrive home. Both knees are now swollen and killing me, as are the joints in both arms from supporting my body weight, and both arms and my face are a lovely maroon color, with the exception of where my watch and sunglasses were sitting. Mental note: CR RT's are on my fun list right behind being covered in live fire ants, but above dropping the soap in prison shower.
So I decide to play with my boat for the last of the afternoon and my motor won't lower. I'd say that the only thing missing is a kick to the groin, but I hit 2 nice bumps during the trip that covered that nicely.
Moral: car w/AC and CD, multiple phone calls the night before, next trip I'm going to fly!!!!!!
I've vented, thanks for listening, donations accepted at the rear of the building.

[Pammi 0]

Good grief! That sucks!! (to put it mildely eh??) Sorry to hear it was such a crappy time.
Pammi
Some new pics.

[Thumper 0]

Thanks for the sympathy. Of course I'm not upset at the JM, scheduling conflicts happen and I don't expect anyone to re-arrange their lives for me. It's just that the overall experience was miserable. On the plus side my ears have finally stopped ringing. 5 hours w/o a helmet makes you wind-deaf for days. And I got my boat's outdrive down. It won't go up for some reason, but at least I can get out on the lake. And I'll try to hit the DZ this weekend or next, whenever they are doing a sat. jump. I'll let you know how they go.
I *can* fly.

[wildblue 4]

Get some bar risers, textile jacket, helmet with better ventilation, ride faster, and maybe a corbin seat and a throttle lock. Can't help you with the numbnes you get from the vibrations though. Oh, and a MP3 player makes the long trips a little easier too.
Ok.. might be cheaper to go buy a Kia.