Summer Tour

My lack of college education has always been a black cloud hanging over me, and was/is a primary catalyst for my traveling, from the very beginning. It was like a small trump card I carried in my back pocket. Kind of the same reason I decided to skydive. I'm replacing intellectual accomplishments with visceral ones.

I've planned several trips for this summer that I plan to query to various magazines. Ultimately I'd like to write a book describing how failing to earn a degree has impacted my life, for better or worse, but I'll take it one trip at a time. Some of my planned trips away from Baltimore this summer include, but are not limited to, are:

I've been planning an epic, week-long+ bike trip since 1999--the year I got my first bike. I used to read, dreamy-eyed and full of wanderlust, all of the traveling articles in Bike magazine and imagine my own solo jaunts around the country that I would take. One possible destination this summer includes Colin Edwards's Texas Tornado Boot Camp in Texas. Learning how to slide a motorcycle while drinking beer and firing rifles--not all at the same time, unfortunately--is my first choice.

Another ride would be the MotoGP race this August in Indianapolis. Or maybe I could combine the two rides. My first goal, however, is to find the perfect Ducati 916.

The Duke of Bologna

The Ducati 916 changed my life. I won't go into how this bike changed the motorcycle industry here; it's been written about in every motorcycle magazine the world over for nearly two decades. And it's effect on my motorcycle affinity very much revolved around this particular bike. It appears that I've finally found the one. My first 916. It's almost too much too handle.

The obligatory baseball road trips should include a trip west on I-70, to St. Louis, Kansas City, and maybe even a jaunt over to Cincinnati. Summer does not exist any longer without a trip to at least one unfamiliar ballpark. Fresh from the tap Budweiser beer, Kansas City BBQ, and the land of Slaughterhouses are all there for the experiencing. Combining this baseball road trip with a road trip to see Dave Matthews Band is very much in the realm of definitely maybe.

One way or the other I'm beginning my foray into Private Pilot's License training this year. I had planned on taking the introductory flight somewhere in Baltimore, but there is a flight school in Princeton, New Jersey that offers a one-hour introductory flight as opposed to the half-hour flights locally.

Over the past several years I have increasingly become more wary of flying during travel. I'm assuming that this has something to do with the fact that I am not in control of the plane, and I'm curious that if learning to fly in the cockpit of a small plane can help me with my traveling in some way. We'll see.

T's brother is planning a sailing trip to Martha's Vineyard this summer and I've been tentatively invited. I've never sailed before, so I find the possibility of sailing up the Atlantic Ocean intriguing.