This is the second part of the three part series about ‘Road Trip: 2010’.

What would you do in my situation? I mean seriously think about it. I’m a thousand miles away from home with a motorcycle that won’t run without a great deal of work and money. I could have easily dropped the bike off at a shop, handed them my credit card and said, ‘Here, fix this.’ But that would have depleted my funds and taken a lot more time than I planned for the trip.

I chose to scrap the bike.

It was the hardest and easiest decision I’ve had to make in a long time. My reasoning, I have the same bike in pieces back home. So I had my cousin, Louis, take me to where the bike was towed so I could grab as much as I could off the bike to take home with me. I spent the rest of my time out East, enjoying myself and not thinking about what had happened.

Saturday morning was spent at the towing yard stripping the bike. The afternoon was spent wandering around town. We hit garage sales. There they are called tag sales. I don’t think I saw a single tag. I was looking for a book to read on my unexpected trip home. I mostly found books about expecting mothers and guides to parenting. It isn’t time for those yet. There was a man who, drunk, tried to sell us a pair of his dress shoes which he never wore. They were very nice shoes, though not my size or style. Oh and he wanted $280 for them. If only I hadn’t destroyed a motorcycle the previous day. If only.

That evening, Louis and I took a dip in the pool before his father took us out for dinner at a brewery. I wish I could remember the actual name of the city, but I can’t and I’ll have to refer to it as Lesbiantowne. The wait for the table was nearly an hour so we browsed the shops. For those of you familiar with Madison, it was an East Coast version of State Street. The highlight for me was hitting up the used book store, The Raven, and buying a couple of books to read during my return. I grabbed Brian’s Songand The Proud Highway. I finished the first and made it about 40 pages into the second. I’m not much of a reader while on the road.

Anyway, dinner was good. I had a Clifford beer alongside my pulled pork sandwich. The beer was perfect for my tastes, a nice and deep amber. The pork, on the other hand, was spicier than I would expect a pork sandwich to be. I like mine sweet and smoky. But that might be just me.

Seeing as how it was the 4th of July weekend, we tried to make it home for the fireworks, but we were too late. Well, too late for the official ones. There must be different laws for firing of fireworks between Wisconsin and Massachusetts because every other house was blowing something up in their back yard. At one point, after a few explosions, we heard screams coming from outside. So we dashed out to see what happened; I was hoping to see a hand blown off. No dice, it was just a kid who hit a pot hole on his bike and fell off. Maybe next year.

Sunday, the actual 4th, was far more relaxing than I’ve had in a long time. Louis and I spent the day by the side of the pool. Then we moved to the yacht club for free food and to drink beers by the river and then take a canoe out. I’m pretty sure I did all of the rowing, despite his protests. I had the aching shoulders to prove it. After the canoe we headed home again to lie by the pool and drink a few beers.

The plan was to head to Springfield to watch the fireworks. I’m indifferent about fireworks. I think there are better ways to use explosions. We went, I didn’t put up a fuss because I could spend the time playing with the light detection I added to my point and shoot camera. I took roughly 125 photos during the fifteen minute show. What was the worst part of the show? I’ll tell you. The worst part was when they played Party in the USA over the loudspeaker. I can’t stand that song.

The next day my cousin, his girlfriend and I hit the road to Rhode Island for a day at the beach. We were supposed to meet my other cousin there but we never managed to find her. The beach was packed. And why shouldn’t it be? It was 90 degrees without a cloud in the sky. There were babes everywhere. Just sayin’. The water was great, cold but in a good way. I got a decent tan lying in the sun and digging a hole.

Don’t worry, my farmer’s tan is slowly going away.

After the beach it was off to see my aunt for dinner. Not much exciting happened unfortunately. I did get to see her new place and her dog, but I doubt that would be interesting without pictures of either. She did buy me a few things to take with on my trip home and I got to to play the “Big Y Slots”. I won two silver coins. From what I’m told, that means I get a discount the next time I shop at Big Y and there is a sale involving the coins. I think.

After that it was home for bed; I had to get up early the next morning for the trip home. More on that next time.