jon's motorcycle trip, by the numbers:

(estimated) percentage of customers classifiable as 'morbidly obese' at the friday night all you can eat catfish buffet at the truck stop near pleasant valley, tx : 40
(estimated) largest payload seen riding in a dodge aries (4 people, near said buffet) : 1150 pounds
biggest day, miles : 873
best deal on gas (near springdale, id / per gallon) : $2.85
# of miles it saved me from hitch-hiking (estimated): 5
# of times more painful to be body slammed by cousin joshua (5yrs, 60 lbs) than equivalent slam by eric s. (32 years, 140 lbs) : 2
number of towns in idaho with names better than idahome, idaho : 0
probability that joe g. will be caught peeing in public standing up : near 0
# of banks in pendleton, or that i am on 'poor' or worse terms with : 1
# of better ways to make a bull angry than the rodeo method : 0
number of waitresses more friendly than the woman at the bar by the motel attached to the truck stop in Rowland, OR : 0
# of better dr. pepper's i've had than the 44 oz. / $0.59 near exit 289 near the new mexico border on i-40 : 0
percentage probability, before drinking said dr. pepper, that i would light my motorcycle on fire on return home (estimated) : 80
percentage probability, after said dr. pepper : 0
# of dishes i've had named 'mexican food,' lifetime to date : 1
places other than joe's diner, rising star, tx that make it like they do : 0
estimated probability that someone will ask 'are you lost??' if you stop and eat in rising star, tx : 62
total mileage : 2875
days rode at least 200 miles : 10
days rode at least 500 miles : 5

and my favorite or most interesting quotations:

cousin joshua : "jon, i like to chase girls" [smiling big]
jon : "me too. why do you like to do it?"
cousin joshua : "because they get really scared."

firewood man : "the guy down the road hit a motorcyclist a few months ago. it killed him, and the guy felt real bad about it."
jon (hitch-hiking with firewood man on the way to fix broken motorcycle) : "i bet."
firewood man : "because he had a brand new truck, and it just about totalled his brand new truck"
jon : "oh"

joe gault : "eric is not big, but what he lacks in size he makes up in mouth."

my plans:

08/27 - a party
08/30 - leave austin, head to kansas,
09/1-09/10 - be around topeka / kc / columbia
09/10-09/16 - travel to gretchen's in east greenville, pa -- see friends along the way
09/17-09/21 - hang out with gretchen and chet, report to peace corps on 9/21.

So, to get this started I want to tell you my plans for the next couple of weeks and post the essay I sent the Peace Corps about my goals and expectations for my service.

Plans =

09/05-09/06 - ride the scooter to denver
09/06-09/10 - hang out with grandma, mom, and uncle charlie and family in denver
09/10-09/11 - ride the scooter or take the bus to pendleton
09/11-09/14 - try to do round-up appropriately (http://www.pendletonroundup.com/)
09/14-09/?? - hang out with joe gault and nathan earle in portland
09/??-09/19 - get back to austin
09/19-09/23 - hang out with mom, gretchen, and chet in austin
then, try to ski every day and adjust my inventory as appropriate
09/27 - have a going away party, then leave town as appropriate
then, the details get fuzzy until i report to the peace corps on 10/21.


here's my goals and expectations essay. sorry about the capital letters.

I have thought about joining the Peace Corps to be a teacher since I was in high school, and am really excited that it is going to happen.

My first goal is be a good math teacher. Math can be a dry subject. I hope to make studying it interesting and rewarding for my students. I think I can do so by projecting enthusiasm about math, using creative teaching strategies as appropriate, and thinking of interesting examples to demonstrate how math is useful. I hope that my teaching will help students be excited about and interested in math, and feel greater self confidence as they understand it.

Second, I want to get to know the people in the place I’m assigned. I hope to make some good friends and to understand their customs, society, and culture. I plan to work hard to learn their language so that I can communicate with them more and more effectively.

Third, I would like to get to know the country of Namibia. I hope to explore the area around my assignment thoroughly, as well as visiting many of the countries’ towns and points of interest, including Etosha National Park, Fish River Canyon, and Luderitz. I would like to use as many various forms of transportation as is possible – (hitch)hiking, riding trains, riding buses, and any others that are available.

I expect that the greatest difficulty I will experience during my service may come from being close to Namibia’s considerable AIDS problem. It sounds likely that I will know people directly who come down with AIDS, as well as children who are orphaned by the disease. I think this would be emotionally difficult for anyone.

I think, well, I hope that I’m prepared for the difficulties that come from living abroad and learning to do a new job. I haven’t taught in a classroom setting before, and expect that will take some getting used to. I’m sure that there will be times when I feel homesick for my friends here, miss various foods, or feel like I could use a break from struggling to communicate. I’m also aware that it is possible I will experience various health issues as my body adjusts to the demands of living in Namibia. I’ve been through these things before, although not to this extent, and am planning on maintaining a positive attitude and getting through them.

I’m excited about this opportunity. I expect the good things about it to far outweigh the bad, and that I will enjoy the experience and the memory of it afterwords.


OK, thanks for reading. I'll be back to let you know how the trip went.