What's the deal with Ted Simon?

A few posts back I wrote that Ted Simon was one of the coolest guys ever. Both Dylan and I would like to take that statement back. Dylan never actually said it, but I know he agrees with me.

I painfully read his adventure, starting with Africa. All the while I was reading this I was thinking, "what a boring trip and he has no good stories to tell at all." I was hoping for there to be some event or activity that would draw me in as a reader. Nope. The worst thing that happened to him is that he lost his wallet and then didn't ask for it back when someone else found it and left with it. That's not cool.

I'm sure Mr. Simon's adventure was wrought with challenge and adversity. He just can't write about it in a way that's worth reading. Both Dylan and I stopped reading the book less than halfway through. Am I missing something here with this book?

More to come...

Finally, the headphone arrives!

Way back in early January at the Calgary Motorcycle Show, I ordered a custom headphone system and some custom ear plugs. Dylan also picked up some custom plugs as well. He seems to be content letting me be the equipment testing guinea pig. Fair enough.

The challenge for me was that I am deaf in one ear so listening to music on headphones -until the MP3 format came to be and I could convert my music properly - has been a complete waste of my time. For those of you "full hearers", just try listening to some good 'ol Led Zepplin or something with only one headphone in. You'll soon get my point after listening to Robert Plant whailing for a couple of minutes with only a set of drums behind him. Listen to the other headphone and that's where Jimmy Page is hanging out. Short story long, stereo sound sucks.

Back to the story, E.A.R. Inc sells a dual-driver, sound blocking (earplug) custom headphone system where the headphone is made of a mold of your ear canal. It blocks most ambient sound, thereby allowing one to listen to music at reduced volumes and protecting ones hearing at the same time. After talking to the Canadian distributor, she agreed to sell me a custom, custom set for half price. The headphone would go only to my good ear and would be wired for both the left and right channels. It would be ready in 10 business days; the end of January. Wooo!

After a dozen phone calls and lots of talk, the headphone arrived just this week - the 16th of March.

Now, I don't mind for a second that they took this long to come in - it's one of the reasons Dylan and I are planning way ahead for the trip. However, the greatest customer service lesson I learned back when I sold high-end menswear in university is to under promise, over deliver. E.A.R. Inc. needs to learn this.

Now having vented about the delay, I have to say that I think this headphone system has got to be one of the greatest equipment buys for the trip. The sound quality is unlike anything I have ever imagined and I can listen to my music comfortably with my MP3 player on its minimum volume!

Now all I need is to learn to play pinball. I have the deaf and blind part down pat already.

More eye problems

During my last appointment down at the Mitchell Eye Centre, the tech said that I should book an appointment right away if I noticed I was having trouble with my vision.

At that appointment my vision was -0.5 in each eye. Roughly translated to pretty good and getting better! We booked an appointment for a month later (March 22).

Fast forward to this week, I noticed on Wednesday that I was struggling to focus on both near and far items. I could do it, but the process was similar to an old auto focus camera lens that is struggling to know what it should be focusing on. So I called.

Fortunately I managed to get in the next morning bright and early - after taking my car to the shop for some warranty work.

A different person handled my tests this time and she went through a slightly different process.
She asked how my vision was and all I could really say to her is that I knew it wasn't right, but couldn't tell why.

It turns out that my dominant eye, my right eye that I had epi-lasik on, is now at +0.5 and my left, LASEK eye is still progressing properly at -.25, nearly perfect.

So now I'm left with a right eye that's far-sighted and a left that's nearsighted (for the short term). She put me back on Maxidex, a steroid drop that I was taken off of at the beginning of this "adventure" at two drops per day. I still go back on March 22 for another followup.

To be completely frank about things, the thought of being far sighted again after all of this is both heartbreaking and expensive. This surgery wasn't cheap and because I had steep corneas in the first place, I doubt they will be able to do an "enhancement" surgery on me. The drops are not likely to revert me back into a 0.00 or slightly nearsighted world - that's my assessment.

I'm just glad I caught this when I did and managed to get in right away to prevent it from getting worse. I thought this chapter of my life and planning for our trip was coming to a close.

More to come...

First ride of 2007

Yesterday I took my very dusty V-Strom out to the car wash to wake it up from its winter slumber. It had been more than four months since I'd ridden and I was a little nervous. Fortunately the skills came back right away and I had far less trouble than I had been anticipating.

What a wonderful feeling to be back in the saddle after a long winter. It's still cold here in Calgary, but Spring is in the air.

Houston, we have luggage!

Now with my eyes doing a billion times better (still not perfect by any stretch), it's time to get focused on the trip once again.

A while back, Dylan and I discussed the age old motorcycle adventure question: what type of luggage do we use with the bikes?

We settled on a heavier choice, but one that will afford me tipping my bike a few times with minimal damage. The debate was among soft cases and hard cases made from either aluminum or plastic. We agreed on plastic.

So with Dylan's contacts in the aircraft parts industry, we managed to snag a great deal on four Pelican 1550 cases. Better yet, Dylan and his wife gave me my cases to me for my birthday.

I think these cases are easily the best choice for the trip, however, Dylan is concered they will be too large and will stick out too far on the bikes, affecting aerodynamics and fuel economy. He's probably right, but I'm just happy to have something new and tangible that we'll be living out of for four months.

On another random note, the motorcycle adventurer's spiritual guide, Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon is back in print. If you haven't heard of it yet, Ted rode around the world for four years in the 1970s. Now in his 70s, he's finished re-tracing his ride, again by motorcycle. That guy is cool.

More to come...