4... 3... 2... 1...

Tomorrow, Julie and I set off on our great adventure of the summer, riding our newly refurbished motorbikes on a nearly 3,000 mile loop that will take us from home in Minneapolis through the plains of the Dakotas, to my childhood habitation in northwest North Dakota, continuing westward into Montana, arriving in Glacier National Park, one of the grand-daddies of the national park system, and regarded by many as a sure-fire cause of stupefaction.

Julie and I will be dropping our jaws for three days or so -- riding, hiking, camping, dodging bears -- before turning northward into Canada, visiting the Waterton National Park, and then turning eastward toward home. (The trip's timing coinciding with the descent of thousands for the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul is just a happy accident.) We're thinking of avoiding interstates, slowing our pace and taking in more small town, middle west Americas.


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We hope to document the journey along the way via photos (available here or as part of RTIR's merged feed) and video we'll post when we return. While I'm sad to see the summer drawing to a close, I'm just giddy to have some play time like this with Julie before she returns to Columbus and OSU for the fall.

4 states;
3 provinces;
2 bikes; and
1 day until we're off!

Where the heck is Eric?

Goodness it has been a long silence. Apologies, friends. Lots of living to report.

It has been a time of milestones. Tomorrow will be 90 days since my accident, and this morning I had my three month follow-up visit with my doc. Amazingly, astonishingly, the bones and joint have healed as well as I could have hoped. While my wrist might be stiff for some time, I should regain my full range of motion, and have full strength and use of it. I can only repeat my common refrain: I am a lucky, lucky guy.

In the meantime, I continue with my physical therapy, inching toward flexibility comparable with my right arm, with the assistance of Amy, my physical therapist, and ultrasound, squeeze balls, Fluidotherapy (basically, a tub of corn meal attached to a hair dryer to heat and blow it around, into which I slide my arm; the corn meal conveys heat to the joint better than water or hot pads, and feels amazing, like a dry hot tub); an assorted collection of objects for use as passive resistance, especially a hammer I carry around everywhere to work on stretches for supination. Last but not least, I have a dynamic splint from J.A.S., which looks a little bit like part of an exoskeleton from that loader that makes Sigourney Weaver the ultimate bad ass in Aliens:



Another set of milestones was reached this past weekend, when I took my bicycle out for the first time since February, for a spin around Lake of the Isles. I was relieved to discover that it felt totally fine, very much like before the accident! Julie and I rode her motorcycle up to North Oaks to pick up a pair of rollerblades and pads I purchased off of Craiglist, which gave me a chance to rollerblade around the lakes for the first time ever. (My only other rollerblading experience was in the Metrodome last winter.)

I’ve also just scheduled my visit to a travel clinic, to get immunized for our trip, which we expect will start in February with New Zealand, and continue as we head generally northwest in the direction of Scotland. As Julie noted, Matt’s adventures have been an inspiration as we think ahead to 2009.

The other big milestone from the past weekend is that I am now a rider again. Meet my new wheels, an Empire Strikes Back vintage Honda CB750-F Super Sport, which I am (aptly enough, and in memory of the Rooster) calling R2.



See you on the road!