Dec 23 2012
I am physically exhausted. Have sore throat. Slept in until 3pm. Feel cold.
So i have been in search for a permanent home. When I was in Albany Ga. I thought I found one in leesburg. But turned out to be not an ideal home. One mattress. Super cold room. Owner had nothing. He gave me Five sheets But don't fit to mattress. Nothing in the kitchen. Not even salt and pepper. Just owners pots and pans and few silverware. Normally when you are renting this is no big deal. People already own furnitures but I don't do I looked under room share section of the Craigslist for ready furnished place. Bottom line is I don't like this place. So I rent it for a week and search for new home again.
On 21st, I finally find two but its already 5pm. Houses are both close to each other but two hours away from me. Which forces me to ride in the dark in a cold night. The cold night part I underestimated it was one of the coldest night around here. My direction took me to toll high way. It was annoying to keep pulling over to pay, it's not as simple as driving a car and reaching over the cup holder for coins while still driving.
I visit the first house. It was beautiful. Nice neighborhood. Paying hundred more than what I am and makes huge difference. 25 guy who has landscaping business lives there and it's his fathers house. Second house was nice too. Owner does not live there 5 bed rooms three people living. He liked me I could tell GE just talked for an hour about house life money. But he was a control freak even told me his Myers Briggs letters INTJ then he told me he is extroverted.
Ride back was so cold. My hands and lower body felt numb. Upper body only I had multi layer. Under armor, two shirts, leather jacket and peacoat.
I got back home. Frozen up. Put the left over food on the stove and took a hot shower.
Yesterday. I got out of the house at 5:40am to go to west palm beach. Turns out my map direction took me to bunch of till roads. Yesterday annoying experience taught me not to get in those. There are plenty of good free roads. This got me way far behind schedule. This time I put on my rain gear for extra warmth. I just went east until I hit interstate 95. By the time I got there sun was about 45 angle up in the sky. I packed away my rain gear, had a coffee and sausage biscuit at McDonald and recalculated ETA. I was going to be forty min late. But that thought went away when I got on the freeway. Speed limit is 70. But everyone was going 80-85. I followed this car that was going 90. This was fastest I have been on this bike or on any motorcycle. It was windy, shaky, pushing me left and right. I had to look out for bumps and lines, pay attention to curves and any cars on the side may cut me, cars coming behind me, check for break lights for sudden stops, construction zone weird lanes and land marking and of course state patrol. Funny thing was two state patrol did not pull me or other speeding cars over. I saw two sheriffs pass me when I was going 80 at one point.
So I made it to my destination 20 min late, getting 45 mpg which is terrible, usual is 55-57mpg, only to be disappointed. Ugly messy house in ugly neighborhood. Room had refrigerator and microwave and bathroom but she just wanted me to use that and live the door to house locked while using other door to go in and outside. When I asked her about kitchen she said no and that was the deal breaker.
By this time I was warm and glad to be in southern Florida. I get a call from second house land lord saying she Misinterpreted message and now there won't be anyone to show me the house. I said I woke up 5am to look this house then she goes "but you were looking at houses right?" Manipulative. But I looked at the house anyway. Gated community. Ok looking small house. It did feel homey. Looked like they moved in yesterday and already their own way set up and I didn't like it. I assumed utility bill of $150 for a tiny house and then $120 for wifi a lie. I was disappointed. Found some leads. So I followed it. He was not home and did kit answer the phone. Later he called when I was about to enter freeway but I didn't answer.
By this time it's around
1:30pm had to decide whether to go to fabrizio s pot luck in st Petersburg which starts at 2pm and takes four hours to get there or go to Miami to check out another place. I chose Miami and rode another 1.5hrs. Funny thing happened. My phone is dead. Which it shouldn't have been. I had plenty of battery only thing u could think of was dropping it in McDonald. I plugged it in and waited and waited no response I was saying good bye to this phone. Luckily I remembered the address and by reading street signs and grid system found the house. Nobody was there. Ghetto neighborhood. Ghetto apartment. There were four I knocked on all of them nobody answered. I went to McDonald again to see if my phone would work but no. There everyone spoke Spanisg. Kids yelling in Spanish, lady making order and the guy taking the order all. There was even a girl with backpack selling music CDs for a dollar! Old man next to me playing with his new lap top talking in Spanish. Then I had to go to bathroom and I asked him."señor yo voy al bano puede ciudad Mia cosas?" He was surprised but understood everything. People around looked at me. I was not sure if it was because I was the only Asian there or because I spoke Spanish. It's the look I was exposed to for a year throughout travel. Outsider, foreigner, tourist, traveler, non local, etc. no luck. I checked out downtown but feared for cold weather ride back and rushed back north. I went fast on I-95 Witt lasting warmth and sun on my left hiding away leaving me with darkness and chill.
I stopped at gas station to get a coffee and put on my rain gear when I couldn't bear the cold no more.
With no phone, no map, I had to figure out my way back home. It's only been two days I lived there. I was not certain how to trace back. I relied on signs and my intuition and yes I made it back all in one piece getting better at dealing with cold and where and how to cover myself. Going to the bodies exhibit was very helpful because now I know where big arteries are and leaving them cold is fatal to maintenance of body temperature. My legs chills the blood and chest warns the blood.
I had a cold beer and had left over soup and passed out.
After 600+ miles ride and half in cold weather, a beer and chicken soup hit shower
When I awoke I had a sore throat and have not left bed for three hours.
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