After hemming and hawing and plotting and analyzing for over a month, I decided not to buy a scooter. I thought that buying a scooter would be a good idea for a long time, partially because I care about conservation, but mostly because I am cheap. In the end, though, I decided that given my current circumstances, I had better not do it. The main thing about my circumstances that led me to abandon my plans of zipping around town on something that got 70 mpg is the fact that I don’t have any other mode of transportation. While having a scooter sounds fun during the summer months, and maybe even some of the fall months, the thought of skidding around in the frost and drizzle of a Northwest winter was harrowing.

Instead of buying a scooter, then, I am going to spend a slightly smaller amount of money flying across the country, retrieving my old car from my dad, and driving from Fayetteville, NC back to Bellingham. By the time I get it to NW Washington, it should have about 100,000 miles on it. It’s a great little car; never had any problems with it. Probably has at least another 60,000 miles in it. I fly out from Seattle early Sunday morning. Here is the proposed itinerary:

Spend a day in Fayetteville, visiting my parents and packing the car.

Drive to Louisville. Visit Ryan and Sarah. Maybe visit Slugger factory.

Drive to Milwaukee. Visit brother, sister-in-law and nephews, and maybe friend Tony. Go to a Brewers game.

Drive to Sioux Falls, SD with my brother Jas. Visit my friend Dave. Watch Dave preach at his church.

Drive to western South Dakota. Visit the Corn Palace. Visit the Badlands. Visit Mount President Head.

Drive to Montana. Visit Little Bighorn Battlefield.

Drive to Coeur D’Alene, ID. Visit friends.

Drive to Spokane. As brother is big Bing Crosby fan, visit Bing’s boyhood home. Pick up some Bing memorabilia.

Drive to Bellingham. Jas flies back the next day.

Blog about the whole thing.

• Autobiography