Saturday, I took a bike trip to Sioux City, AKA Sucks City. Conclusion: Not better by bike than by car. It truly does suck. The only real difference is the constant fear that you're going to hit that weird center ledge they seem to have on every on/off ramp to the highways in that city when you're on a bike. Nothing as scary as sixty MPH, rounding a bend, and seeing a three inch ledge creep ever closer to the tire. Outside of that, bleh.

Oh, the rain on the way home was interesting. I stopped and geared up. Gave it a few minutes to wash the oil off the highway and got back on it. Other than that moment of panic when it went from light rain to FUCK YOU YOU'RE GONNA DIE powerstorm from hell, and then disappeared just as quickly, it's not that much different from riding without rain. You watch the road for puddles, try to stay in the tracks of the vehicles in front of you, and that's about it.

Scariest moment EVAR! Approaching a two-semi split house trailer caravan to pass on the interstate. The one with the "siding" on the opposite side from the passing lane in the rear. Right as I get there *WHAM* the siding comes off and slides around me laying across the highway. Were I two seconds behind the position I was in, I'd have been dead. Mrs. NFB, in a car a safe distance behind me at the time, said she saw my life flash before her eyes. Good thing, because I only had time to think, "SPEED THE FUCK UP NOW!" and get past the caravan before the one with the siding facing me decided to peel off.

That caused an intimate understanding of what the older bikers mean when they say, "yeah man, that caused some puckering."

Outside of that, a nice long ride with relatively little negative. Rain isn't that big of an issue, and while it was cold, I stayed fairly warm by wrapping up the layers. Good enough.

Current mileage: 748. I'll pass Mrs. NFB's brother's 2007 C90T's mileage this week sometime, and he's owned his about fifteen months.

BREAK

Someone finally explained to me why people are so excited about the new Metallica album in a way that's ALMOST understandable. I said that it's something I *CAN* listen to, but I don't really enjoy it much. Someone else said, "yeah, but after fifteen years of being kicked in the nuts by them, having something that we *CAN* listen to is really, really exciting."

See, to me they have to make it up to me. The new stuff has to KICK MY ASS to impress me. Instead, it massages my ass lightly in a way that's just a little too familiar while not being romantic in the least. So, you know, piss off. Everybody else seems to be looking at it like they, as fans, have failed it over the last few releases, and this is their chance to make it up to them. Some folks see fandom as something more than, "these guys are doing something I like." I guess I'm just not one of those folks.

Enough. Outz.