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Picked up this book the other day – its got a corresponding BBC TV series that has 10 episodes (i think).  This has been an excellent book so far, i’m about 20% through – and I can’t stop reading it!  I have to save some for this weekend though, since we’ll be camping.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone that enjoys motorcycles and/or adventure. 

Here’s the Amazon.com synopsis:

It started as a daydream. Poring over a map of the world at home one quiet Saturday afternoon, Ewan McGregor — acclaimed actor and self-confessed bike nut — noticed that it was possible to ride all the way round the world, with just one short hop across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska. It was a revelation he couldn’t get out of his head. So he picked up the phone and called his fellow actor-slash-biker friend Charley Boorman and told him it was time to hit the road….

Beginning in London, Ewan and Charley chased their shadows through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia; across the Pacific to Alaska; then down through Canada all the way to New York. Long Way Round is the result of their four-month, 20,000-mile joyride. Featuring original diary entries, travel maps, mileage charts, and dozens of photographs, this is a freewheeling, fully charged, and uproariously entertaining book about two world-famous individuals who chose the road not taken…and made the journey worthwhile.

Writen in diary-entry type style you get to read from both Ewan’s and Charley’s point of view.  Some parts have already had me sitting there with a big shit-eating grin on my face with people around me wondering what was wrong with me… and i’m barely into it! 

Only a little over $10 from Amazon, its totally worth it.

Tonight was the same as any night… sort of – I went on a ride with the SLO Riders Motorcycle Group (not sure its really a “club”).  It was a ton of fun.  They’re not picky about who goes on the rides (hence me being able to go) and they’re really safe and even have a lead/trail biker to make sure no one gets lost.  Pretty nice. 

I’m definitely not as fast as a lot of those guys, especially the guys on the super crotch rockets – not only can i barely keep up on my little Honda Hawk GT, but they’re super quick in the twisties and i’m definitely not there. 

 Tonight’s ride was up 101 from SLO to Hwy 58 through Santa Margarita, and out to Hwy 229 N, cutting over Hwy 41W to Atascadero, where we stopped for some dinner.  A quick bite to eat and we made our way back down Hwy 101 to SLO to meet up at McCarthy’s for the weekly Bike Night. 

 Met Fleezus, Julie, Matt, and Alex there – had a Guinness with them and hung out for a little while, then took off for the trek back up to Paso.  Definitely fun, wish I had a bike that could more easily keep up – that’s not complaining, i’m grateful to even HAVE a motorcycle!

Do you guys remember when gas was $0.35 a gallon?  What the heck happened there?  Its funny because you get used to X price for gas… then it shoots up, say from $4 to $5.  You’re pissed!  What happened to $4 gas?  Then the price drops down to $4.69, and all you really think is “Thank goodness its not $5 any more.” …  But it used to be $4!!! 

 I think its all part of a clever gas price psychology trick.  And we all fall for it.  Except for the head honchos at all the oil companies.  They’re stoked right now, as I would be too, if I were them.

Gone are the days of bigger, bigger, bigger – now its mass public transit, fuel-efficiency, hybrids, hydrogen cell vehicles, electric cars….  and motorcycles!

The end.