Ain't going nowhere fast

It seems like a long time ago since I crawled in to Vine Cottage, leaving a trail of sodden clothes in my wake, after our Black Forest bike tour. My life has not been entirely without incident or accident since then, though it has, at times, felt a bit that way - especially in the bottomless lacunae between lawyers letters and the many other professionals who are involved in the deceptively complicated business of buying a plot of land on which to build a little house. 

It's taken many thousands of pounds, hours of patient emails, phone calls and documentation, much biting of lip, endless discussions covering all the many 'what ifs' that stifle our every move but the time for talk has finally been put behind us and, a week ago, we began digging out the ground. 50 tons of soil later (that's three big lorries of soil) and the trenches have been filled with 20 cubic meters of concrete (that's also three big mixer lorries) which, as Dave2 remarked, 'ain't going nowhere fast'. 

DaveOne. Going nowhere especially quickly. 

As we speak, I am sure that the builders, conveniently named DaveOne and DaveTwo (or, perhaps, Dave Too), have already been on the case since 8.00am; they're a great team and will undoubtedly get on extremely happily without me for a few weeks, as long as I can direct sufficient funds into everyone's bank account (thank you Tim Berners Lee - I'd be lost without the internet). 

Where's the gofer going? I hear you say.

Seattle is the short answer. Life is continuing to zoom by and needs to be firmly grasped, lest it trickles away un-noticed. Fortunately, back in the dark days of 2013, my old mate Nick came up with the idea of doing Route 66 before we're both too old and cantankerous to manage a Honda 50, let alone a monster-sized Harley Davison.

I can't promise that this will be the last big big image of the trip but I'll try to ensure that the background is more scenic 

Since then, the idea has been refined (and his biking skills improved) so that we're now ready to hit Route 101, which follows the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle in the very north west of the USA to San Diego, down Mexico way. We're only (only!) going as far as Malibu Beach, the home of Natasha, Nick's sister-in-law and that's what this blog will be about from 14th May, when Nick joins me in Washington's coolest city. 

As a little hors d'oeuvre, I am leaving today on a jet plane, don't know when...Focus Jony! - to explore some of the islands between Seattle and Vancouver by bicycle. So, if you're into big bikes and 'the road trip', come back in a couple of weeks and join us then. 

For the rest of us, get your lycra out and top up your water bottles, I think Heathrow is this way!