Strangled By Idle Hands

"So what are you up to these days?" "Not much. Mainly sitting on my ass, ripping CDs from the library and applying for jobs I don't want and won't get. If I get real ambitious, I might bike to the library and check out another stack, I think I'm up to M or N." I gaze out my window, where, for the 98th consecutive day, it's 50, rainy, grey, and thoroughly miserable in Portland. "On second thought, I guess I'll sit around and watch some Japanese pro wrestling DVDs".

"Ain't nothing wrong with that. Have faith in the job hunt, it's all about patience. Of course this is coming from a guy who ran out of patience and is heading off to India for three months".

It has been two months since ML and I cruised through the CA deserts in a celebration of prolonged unemployment. Since then he had abandoned all hope of finding legit professional work, invading the privacy of citizens as a census taker instead. I, on the other hand, was thoroughly wasting away in the Pacific Northwest, feeling the 12% unemployment acutely. Riding my bike to Trader Joe's for pre-cooked lentils and six packs of Simpler Times had become the highlight of my week. A far cry from the non-stop merriment and mayhem of the previous summer that influenced my decision to move to the hipster capital of North America.
"Man, we gotta do something. I've been thinking about some tours out in your neck of the woods...maybe a cruise down the Oregon coast or something."

"Nah, I gotta get out of this rainy shithole for awhile. How about Mt Shasta...it's halfway between us, I already have a guidebook on the area, and the weather should be great this time of year".

"Yeah! I've actually done a fair amount of Internet research on a bike tour that goes around the mountain. It'll be a cinch: 50 miles of forest roads, not much elevation gain. Two easy half days leaving us time for some hiking later. A final mellow cruise before I head to India."

Believing what people post on the Internet is an invitation to disaster; we had sent our RSVP.