Sold!

So a while back I talked about buying a motorbike again. Well I went ahead and did it, but lost interest soon after, largely due to an unfortunate meeting with asphalt. This week I sold my darling Nighthawk for more than I paid for it, and am back to being a one vehicle person. It was fun while it lasted but I didn't have anywhere near as much fun with it as I had on my old Volty (May-November 2005). I still think motorbikes are fun and look cool but I think riding is out of my system again, for now at least.

It is looking likely that I'm going to head to the States in October for a Southwestern road trip. I was originally planning to go to Chicago or possibly even further, but due to my limited resources and incessant obsession with the southwest, I don't think I'll make it that far this time. Current itinirary goes something like this:
Wellington - San Francisco - Yosemite National Park - Death Valley National Park - Las Vegas - San Diego and Tijuana - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Wellington.
I have most of the month of October off work so should be able to spend 2-3 weeks over there. My friend Laura is interested in coming with me, and my friend Brooke is heading to the US at roughly the same time, so will probably meet up for part of the trip, and a couple of my Colorado friends are going to drive out to California to see me while I'm there too. While I still haven't booked my ticket, it has all come together so nicely that it feels like theres no going back really.

In other news Miss Avalon has this week won the crown of Miss Hutt Valley. I kidd you not. I wish I was kidding. It never ceases to amaze me how they manage to find contestants for Miss Hutt Valley, I thought self-respect would prohibit anyone from competing for that title. The Hutt News did a big story on it. Apparently one of the contestants, whose name was possibly Shazza, answered the question on World Peace with: "I'm very passionate about protecting our planet, and global warming is a great concern to me." I really do congratulate the new Miss Hutt Valley, but really how much competition was there? Miss Taita? Miss Naenae? Miss Waiwhetu (shudder).

And speaking of 'global warming', I note with sadness that weather guru Augie Auer has died this week. I think he was a really cool guy, and hearing of his death really saddened me. He had the courage to go on national TV and be his quirky self and deliver the bad news about the weather night after night, and he really knew his stuff. He also courageously stood up against the 'global warming' movement, as part of a knowledgable minority (who I suspect will be proved right) who realize that the scaremongering science surrounding man-made climate change just doesn't stack up. RIP Augie!