How many jackets do I need to take? One rain, one leather, and one mesh? Yikes. That means that I'd have to strap a jacket to the back seat, and I'll look like a traveling gypsy.
Well fortune has smiled on me, and I've finally got the jacket situation dialed in. I bought a Frank Thomas Strike Titanium Mesh Jacket.
I found the jacket on close-out blow-out for $80 at Cycle Gear. Two weekends ago it was a blazing heat wave and I took the jacket for a ride and it felt terrific. Unlike a leather jacket, which can be very restrictive - thus - fatiguing, the mesh jacket allows me to move free and easy. It's just soooo comfortable.
But, cold presents a genuine problem for this jacket. It's nearly all mesh. I wanted a nice under layer, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a thermal layer, because then my $80 jacket becomes a $200 jacket. I did some rummaging through the closet and found one of my Pearl Izumi windbreaker jackets. It's paper thin, high quality, wind proof... it's even blue. The windbreaker fits perfectly under my mesh jacket. Since it's a bicycle jacket, it fits snugly and the sleeves are tailored to fit closely, so there's no bunching under the mesh. It's perfect!
This means that I basically have 4 layer options. A t-shirt or long sleeve thermal as a base layer. Then the windbreaker under the mesh as needed. The mesh. Then if I'm still cold, I can wear my rain jacket over the top. That means I only need one jacket for the trip (and I can avoid the whole gypsy scenario).
Since this is going to be my primary jacket on the trip (and I anticipate wearing it a lot here in SoCal) I popped the $$$ for a Dainese back protector. The back protector cost two bucks more than the jacket, at $82 buck-a-roos. So at the very least... it's now a $162 jacket.
The route is pretty much set at this point. I have city destinations (roughly) for each evening and the route in between is variable based on how much freeway/highway/country road/sightseeing I want to tackle each day.
I've got confirmations from all of my friends on the trip. So that's great news. I'm seeing my cousin Chris the first evening in Vegas, Christine and Shane in Denver, Timur in Madison, WI, and on the way home Duwayno in Indy.
Final preparations? Finish the playlist for the iPod Shuffle. That's the big one.
Even though I'm planning on blogging about my trip extensively (this is my 18th episode and I haven't even fucking left home yet) I'm not taking my computer. There are computers in the lobbies of most every hotel, so I'll just use whatever I can find. I'm not much of a TV watcher anyways, so at the end of the evening this will get me out of my room and socializing.
I'll catch you up at least once or twice more before I leave. Until then...
Ciao.
rC
