Mississippi Bound

4th of July

Independence Day was originally our departure date, however, we have postponed leaving until tomorrow. This is because Arlo began experiencing a vertigo on Thursday that lasted through Friday. It didn’t seem wise to get on a motorcycle which requires some balancing while suffering from the “spins”. Was it a sinus problem? The result of aspirin? Elevated blood pressure? Tainted food? Whatever the cause, he took some motion sickness pills and the condition has lessened. Today he feels ok, so, blast off will be tomorrow morning.

Despite Arlo’s condition, we were able to take care of a number of items yesterday including consigning our beloved BMW K1200LT motorcycle to be sold at Ride West. Whoever buys this splendid ride, I sincerely hope they enjoy it as much as we did. (I’ve had the same thoughts about every motorcycle we’ve had, though, as each bike transforms into a magic carpet ride for us.) We’ll be riding out on a GoldWing which is a smooth ride with more of an automobile feel than a daring bike ready to tackly the twisties. The reason for the switch is Mississippi has no BMW dealership for servicing our bike. BMW’s, actually ALL bikes, require constant and expensive servicing. It’s unrealistic tot think that we could drive 3 or 4 hours for work to be done. Harley and Honda dealers are everywhere, so we opted for the Honda. A good choice, I think. This is a stable bike with a lower center of gravity than the BMW. It lacks some things the BMW had, like a top rack which allowed us to pack more “stuff”, camping stuff usually, but we won’t need that on this trip and if we’d like we can have a top rack put on. Also, the seats aren’t heated--but, seriously, in Mississippi I don’t think we are going to need a heated anything. All in all, it’ll be a good ride.

Having mentioned the fact of no BMW dealership in Mississippi, there are a few other places which have little or no representation there. Is it fair to expect Mississippi (or any other place for that matter) to have a Starbucks every few blocks? Not really, however, the entire state has only 19 Starbucks! Given that a 5 mile radius in Seattle will offer up well over 19 Starbucks, my perception is skewed. Hopefully, one of the 19 will be close to where we live; or, perhaps another breed, another variation will have evolved which will be as enticing and satisfying. Mississippi has not a single Costco. We have Walmarts and Sam’s Club in the northwest, which are the dominant retailer and retail wholesaler in the south, but Costco is familiar to me and it only seems fair that there be a Costco, at least one, in Mississippi. Since there isn’t, I guess we’ll have to join Sam’s Club and buy from them. By searching on-line, I was able to find one organic grocer. Not high on everyone’s list, but important to us.

While we’re treading water in Seattle, the sun is shining, but the temperature is perfect; the city is resplendent in color (sky, water, trees, as well as red, white, and blue) and sounds abound (cars, seagulls, music, laughter). Seattle coyly whispers to Arlo, “Don’t forget me.”