To be kept up to date, I’ll tell you about future plans. Today was pretty boring, so this is all I’ve got.

There’s a possibility that it might rain tonight. I’m not sure, it may track south. I’m interested in what it’s like to be up here during a thunderstorm.

My friend Ellen, who doesn’t live here anymore, might be stopping by the bookstore tomorrow.

Jeff may possibly be coming up. I may have to get him tomorrow. Not sure though.

Saturday will hopefully be the day when I finally get my scooter back.

Next Saturday, I’ll hopefully be visiting Meg.

That’s a lot of maybes. What is certain?

Sarah is returning from Italy next Thursday.

Next Sunday is when Michael and his friend… whose name alludes me… will be flying into Baltimore from Miami.

That seems to be it. Sure, I’m down with the whole spontaneity thing, but I need some concrete things.

However, it will most definitely be interesting if Jeff, Michael and his friend and I all try to stuff ourselves into my humble little garret. I’m not really sure what I’ll do.

So there you go… and people wonder why I never use my Slingshot weekly planner. How can I?

[For those who haven't seen the apartment from the outside yet, click here and here to see it.]

It only took about 24 hours and I’m all set up and moved in! Woo! I celebrated with a viewing of Smokey and the Bandit. 10-4!

And I took some pictures for you fine folks out there. Hope you like them.

Well, here we got a lovely shot of my shack taken from just outside my window.

And here’s the view! (click to make bigger)

Pretty, eh? Oh yes. I’ll have move view pictures later. Saw a wonderful sunset tonight. Ahhh!

So let’s go inside…

There’s my door. It’s looks like I should be running a shady private detective business out of there, huh?

Please walk in!

That’s my futon, sans frame. I’ve decided to not use the frame. It makes it easier to move.

Brought some books to read and pictures to look at. That small little door leads to the bathroom which is just too small to photograph. Imagine a bathroom on an airplane that somehow has a shower stuffed into it.

There’s my computer/movie watching thinger.

And here’s another shot:

I move the futon in front of it when I want to watch something. See?

Already made myself at home. I’ve got water and Red Hot Blues. Woo!

Here are the steps leading back out.

Well, I guess that’s it. Any thoughts? Anything look out of place or too cluttery? There’s not a whole lot of space, but I’m really like this little shack of mine.

Well, it appears that I have almost totally moved myself into my new apartment. Pretty nifty, eh?

But the catch – no internet. I might be able to convince the cable company to run a line. We’ll see. I’d like to have net access while I’m here. But paying $50/month is a bit much. We’ll see.

There was supposed to be WiFi in Lewisburg right around here. I think there is, but I have to be a subscriber. I was hoping to be able to hop onto the cafe’s (since it’s public WiFi), but I amazingly can’t get it from here.

So I had to come down to the bookstore just to post this.

I have a box or two of books to move and then I’m finished. I’ll have pictures after that.

Maybe I’m having second thoughts. But there are definitely some things that I should look at a bit more realistically. There is just a lot going on.

The Scooter
If I get it back, it won’t be before Wedneday. I won’t get the chance to ride it before Thursday. And then Friday. The break in period is about 300 miles. You should do it in about 50 mile increments. That’s six “sessions” of 50 miles. At least. I don’t think that is possible to do by Saturday. I could leave Sunday, but that’s still cutting it close. And then, what if it’s not properly fixed?

Moving
I am planning on leaving June 2nd. I’m also planning on moving around that time, hopefully before. But I’ve also got a LOT to do before June 30, when I’m to vacate my current place. And since Nikki is leaving on Wednesday, it’s not like I have a lot of help (though it’s not like I did before… nevermind). By June 30, I have to move into the new place, move the stuff that I want to keep but don’t want to live with to my parents’ house, have a big moving sale and then throw away/give away everything else and then clean the whole place big time so I get my security deposit back. Will I have time to do all of that if I take a week off of life?

Money
Money is an issue right now. I thought that I would have enough to cover everything AND the trip by selling the Bajaj scooter on Ebay. But Ebay took down the listing with only ONE HOUR to go on it because I stated that it was “like a Vespa.” It IS like a Vespa! EXACTLY like a Vespa. It’s a FUCKING VESPA!! Well, basically. Anyway, that’s $1300 that I don’t have. I have to pay rent, bills and then rent and security deposit on the new place. I’m stretched pretty thin right now. The trip, especially to Jersey, would add up. Everything is more expensive there. I’d be spending roughly $50 a day. That’s not bad for a vacation, but it’s still $350 that I can’t part with right now.

Timing
Since the Bajaj didn’t sell via Ebay this week, I’m going to relist it, if I wait till I get back, it’s really cutting it close. Also, with me selling the store, I should be available since someone is coming to look at it this next week. And on Sunday, June 10, I’m picking up Michael from the Baltimore airport. It’s a day after I’d get back, so it’s not really a factor as far as the trip goes, but it would be rough to get home Saturday evening only to drive seven or eight hours the next day. I guess those are pretty minor things, since they don’t really conflict with the trip, but it’s just stuff on my mind.

And I think that’s it. It’s not lack of desire or lack of planning. It’s nothing on my end really. Just a bad time.

The biggest factor right now is the scooter. If the scooter is not ready or I have doubts about it, the trip is off. Everything else I can adjust/deal with/ignore. But the scooter is THE important factor.

Some have asked me why I don’t just take the bus. Mostly, I want to do this on a scooter, but it’s also economics. The scooter gets about 57mpg. The bus gets about 20mpg. Do the math. It’s almost three times more economical to take the scooter.

So what happens if I don’t go?
The trip gets bumped back to mid-July and the New England trip is either canceled (if I start the process of selling the store by the end of June -closing by the end of August – thus making Scoot 66 a reality) or the New England trip happens in September. Somehow. Or, if that simply doesn’t work, it just doesn’t happen.

It really sucks that this whole Sprung from Cages idea is falling apart. I hate to say it, but … maybe next summer.

Another option is a really short, three or four day trip. You know, just so I can get away and so I can test out the scooter, the camping gear, etc. If I do that, I’ll probably do a Route 30 or Route 6 trip. Just a small one. Three or four days.

A good part of my day today was spent planning the Jersey trip. I picked out the exact routes (to avoid super busy, unknown to me, highways and to make sure I hit everything I wanted to hit) and found places to sleep, eat and find free WiFi.

Taking this trip, or any trip, in a car is much easier than doing it on a scooter. Especially when it comes to navigation. It’s not so easy to just pick up a map to make sure that you’re on the right road. So I type out the directions, print them, laminate them with packing tape and stick them to my headset (handlebars).

Here’s what the first day looks like:

Pretty cluttered, I guess. But I can figure out pretty easily while dodging cagers on cell phones.

I’ll be staying the night in these places:
Cheesequake State Park (which is sadly not pronounced how it’s spelled)
Allaire State Park
Frontier Campground
Cape Henlopen State Park
Assateague Island
Meg’s House (I hope)

And if you were interested in a list of towns that I’ll be riding through, here it is:

Day One
Lewisburg, PA
Danville, PA
Mount Carmel, PA
Shenandoah, PA
Jim Thorpe, PA
Lehighton, PA
Palmerton, PA
Bath, PA
Nazareth, PA
Easton, PA
New Hope, PA
Hopewell, NJ
Kendall Park, NJ
Spotswood, NJ
Cheesequake State Park, NJ

Day Two
Keyport, NJ
Port Monmouth, NJ
Leonardo, NJ
Sea Bright, NJ
Long Branch, NJ
Asbury Park, NJ
Allaire State Park, NJ

Day Three
Sea Girt, NJ
Point Pleasant, NJ
Seaside Heights, NJ
Toms River, NJ
Surf City, NJ
Tuckerton, NJ
Atlantic City, NJ
Ocean City, NJ
Frontier Campground near Ocean View, NJ

Day Four
Sea Isle City, NJ
Avalon, NJ
Wildwood, NJ
Cape May, NJ
Cape Henlopen State Park, DE

Day Five
Rehoboth Beach, DE
Dewey Beach, DE
Ocean City, MD
Assateague Island, MD

Day Six
Berlin, MD
Pittsville, MD
Laurel, DE
Seaford, DE
Federalsburg, MD
Denton, MD
Millington, MD
Chesapeake City, MD
Elkton, MD
Havre de Grace, MD
Bel Air, MD

Day Seven
Columbia, PA
Middletown, PA
Harrisburg, PA
Camphill, PA
Duncannon, PA
Sunbury, PA
Lewisburg, PA

Well, if anyone knows anything fun to do in any of those places, drop me a line and I’ll give it a shot!

Happy Ekadasi! I’ve got another song for you.

This one come from a French released LP from the mid to late 70’s called Temple Radha Krishna.

Sounds a lot like Radha Krishna Temple, the George Harrison – produced album on Apple Records, doesn’t it? There’s even a picture of George Harrison on the back! Haha!

It seems like devotees in the 70’s really tried to ride the “George Harrison is a devotee” thing. In my opinion it is just sort of cheap and takes away from the work that he did and the work that these devotees did on this particular album.

This is one of my favorite devotee-made LPs. It was released on Parampara Records and all of the wording is in French. The first cut is by Srila Prabhupada, the rest are by Acutyananda Swami and Bavananda, with one cut by Yogesvara and a minute or so of devotee chanting japa.

The whole album is well recorded and fun, with some quirky takes on traditional sons. I’m not sure if the Srila Prabhupada cut was made just for this album or if it was borrowed from something else to fill space.

This particular song is Kesava Kali Mala by Acyutananda Swami. It’s pretty fast paced, probably fast than I’ve heard it done before.

For those who don’t know, I’m a collector of early ISKCON records. I’ve got quite a lot. More than this:

There are very few that I don’t have. There’s only two that I know of that are missing, though I’m assuming that there are some that I don’t yet know about. I’ve recorded most of these records to MP3 and I’m sharing them on Soulseek under the “Classic ISKCON Records” folder.

I was going to make a website for all of these records, but never got around to it. I’ll probably do it someday. It’s strange that nobody collects these things. They’re great and almost none of them have been officially released by the BBT or Archives, etc. That’s a real shame.

Well, without further adieu, here is Acyutananda Swami singing Kesava Kali Mala!
Click here to download.

Rumor has it that I’ll be getting my scooter back this week. If that turns out to be true, the Jersey trip will happen. June 2 – June 10 (slight date change). Not exactly sure how this is going to work with breaking it in, etc.

So if all works out, I’ll be heading out on Saturday morning (June 2nd), making it to about Easton, PA with a handful of stop overs here and there. I’ve not yet worked out where I’ll be staying, I’ll start doing that soon, probably tomorrow.

If anyone from Jersey would like me to drop by, just let me know. My route can be seen by clicking the “Down the Shore” link to the right of what you’re reading now. The schedule is very tentative and I do need to be back in Lewisburg by June 9 in order to pick up Michael at the airport on Sunday. Unless one of my kind and loving parents beats me to it (which is possible, but not likely). I have to be in Baltimore at 9:51am. No problem, I guess, but it doesn’t leave a lot of room for error. Maybe I can cut off a day or so to give me some breathing room.

In other news, I took the AllState out for about an 80 mile ride today. The engine sounds a bit strange, but I don’t know enough to really know what it is, if anything. Oh well.