Double Day

I purposely avoided scheduling double days, staying two days in one city; when I built the plan spreadsheet, I added optional days to the timeline in certain cities due mainly to the number of back-to-back travel days and/or whether I thought the city would be fun or interesting and I might want an extra day to explore. Bear in mind, any point along the way could be a double day due to unforeseen issues, such as a flat tire but mostly double days were there as a means to recuperate especially if my back were too sore or I became simply too road weary.

Cleveland has become a double day, not because I feel the need to explore another day or that I'm fatigued. No, sadly I've ruined yet another electronic device in this quest. When I went to get on my bike last night, my Samsung S3, a company phone, slipped from my coat pocket. I still had my full-face shield on my modular helmet and didn't hear it hit the concrete. I could've salvaged it if I'd heard it drop. I'm sure it wasn't broken as it had taken worse falls over the past couple of years. As I rolled the motorcycle out of the parking space, easily over 1,000 lbs. with my bodyweight added to the other things I deem necessary to have, I heard the sickening shattering of Gorilla Glass and plastic under the front wheel's weight. I hopped off the bike, picked up the phone and my first thought was, "It's dead Jim." Surprisingly, the phone's computer still worked, still wanted to give me directions, but sadly the display was black as obsidian, a black hole of non-luminescence.

There are those fleeting moments when I wonder how I can make things harder on myself but as a rule I take the prudent path and look to make my life simpler, easier. Clearly that wasn't what I had in mind. Not only was the phone my primary means of familial communication, it also served as my GPS, not really a luxury these days, more a necessity. I pair my phone to my helmet via Bluetooth and get turn-by-turn directions, which generally works well, although lately my phone had had trouble keeping the GPS signal, very annoying.

Fortunately, I have a spare phone, an Apple iPhone 4S (I believe - it might just be an iPhone 4), that I use as a music player. With XM radio, I haven't used the phone on this trip but I'm glad I have it now. It is the holiday weekend and I'm hoping I can find a Best Buy to initialize month-to-month service, enough to get me home.

That gives me a double day in Cleveland, not really planned, but necessary.