ride and fly

[lurch12_2000]

I flew to Fla this past week and decided to pack my bags(really just an overstuffed backpack) and ride the bike 90 miles into Boston's Logan Airport. Always a challenge fighting daytime traffic through their downtown tunnels and even more interesting on a bike! Hot ride into the city but I brought extra gear just in case. Riding the bike has it's advantages, as the Central parking garage was full but the attendant gave me a wink and passed me through knowing I could "squeeze" my bike in somewhere, while turning the cars away to head for the faroff parking lots.
On the late night flight home I wondered if my bike would still be there or pilfered by the midnight bike bandits. Recognizing the Manhattan skyline way down below as the plane approached the northeast I watched the the big clouds ahead all aglow with a beautiful display of a lightning storm. Very intense but not great for my upcoming ride home. Got to the parking garage and found my bike intact but instead of 90 degree weather I left, it was 60 and foggy. Good thing for the extra riding gear and raingear.
I hit more traffic than expected after midnight coming out of Boston and along with the fog, mist and eventual rain, had an interesting 90 mile ride home. Got home at almost 2am after stopping for gas with only my feet (up to my ankles) wet and everything else nice and dry.
Now why didn't I just take my car, you asked? Because of the challenge and fun?...and you don't fall asleep at the wheel on a bike at 1am in the rain.

[Guest]

On a somewhat related note. Did you happen to notice when you paid your parking ticket at Logan and got your receipt that the exact location of where you had parked your vehicle is noted on the receipt.

Pretty amazing if you think about it. Someone drives around all day long in the garages and records license plate numbers of all vehicles and the space they are parked in. Then logs this info into a database. Some folks I work with thought they were doing it with surveilance cameras so I asked and the guy in the garage and he says "No we drive around and record the info."

Guess they will know where the terrorist was parked when the bomb went off and what his license plate # was. We travel a lot where I work and use central and Terminal B parking often. We've been wanting to test the system by waiting a few hours and moving cars around to see what happens. We'll probably end up in Guantanamo.

When you enter the garage a camera takes a picture of your plate, when you leave a camera takes a picture of your plate, in the five seconds it takes to print the receipt the computer matches the photo to the recorded parking space info, to your plate in the photo taken as you leave, and prints it on your receipt.

Now if for some reason someone was looking for your plate or you, Logan's parking garages would be the wrong place to hide.

[lurch12_2000]

On a somewhat related note. Did you happen to notice when you paid your parking ticket at Logan and got your receipt that the exact location of where you had parked your vehicle is noted on the receipt.

I pulled my receipt and yes, it shows the level and row (spaces are not numbered)....interesting.... so don't move it around!
note: Then the garage would be the most secure place for not getting my bike ripped off?
That explains why my cover was lifted a little off the right exhaust pipe for someone to check the plate. I was careful about pulling the cover all the way down all around the bike before I left. I thought it was just a crosswind that might have lifted it after checking that nothing had been taken out of my saddlebags!...not that I left anything but a few tools and my rain gear in them.

[Guest]

Its pretty amazing how closely our brother can track our every day lives. Its even more ironic that the motorcycle plate they were tracking in this case proclaimed "Live free or die" .

On a releated note my new slogan is "Life sucks, and then you fly"