Today went to moving, sorting, and listing a pile of bikes and parts and putting the truck up for sale. The whole process is becoming oddly brutal. I just want all this crap gone. There will be plenty of time to regret selling it all later.

Tomorrow looks like more of the same. After that, I have about a week to prep the bike (new rack, tires, brake pads, oil change, and valve check), and then it's time for the road. Should be good times.

breakdown

As a shop, Black Star did not work out this time around. Many reasons. My fault, and other peoples' as well. Such is life. I'm over it.

All the no-longer-pertinent posts have been culled from here, because they weren't going anywhere. No sense abandoning the name "Black Star". I still like the idea, and the shop will eventually grow out of that, but I can't force it into existence on strength of sheer will alone. In the mean time I'm doing this, so this is what I'm writing about, because this is what Black Star is for now.

I find myself sitting in Tennessee, having built some motorcycles and working on some more, having not written anything much of worth lately, and realizing that I'm about to put the final bit of that plan I'd laid out this January into effect despite having forgotten about it entirely.

It's time for a road trip.

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That's the general idea, at least. The plan is to leave on or about June 9th. Head east to hit the Atlantic (missed a true coast-to-coast on the last road trip by less than 100 miles), then make my way northwest to see people and take care of some old business (pictures once it's done) en route to Denver for festivities there. Book it to LA/SD/TJ to see my brother, a couple of friends, and anyone else I may need to visit. Depending, I may then head north toward SF and eventually hit Seattle. To that point, it should be about six thousand miles worth of road trip. From there, who knows? Back east somehow, to tie up loose ends here and move on to whatever's next.

I'm about to begin preparations for the trip, so this gets to serve as the documentary platform for that. Everything is, of course, subject to massive change between now when I actually leave (and well after, really). I welcome any suggestions of things I might take into account along the way.