PowerCycle

Home sweet home. OK, I don’t really have a home but my Aunt Leigh Ann and Uncle Alan have been kind enough to let me crash at their place for my 3 week visit. Hopefully I get an invite for the next trip… kind of worried considering how much food I’ve been consuming.

The flight from Cusco to Lima was short but that was just a warm up for the 5 1/2 hour ride from Lima to Miami. No luck getting an exit row seat so I’d have a little more leg room. Little did I know that I can actually sleep with my knees pressing right up next to my chin.

The million things I needed to get done are taken care of for the most part. Had some fun calling credit card companies and getting them to ship me out new cards since most expire within the next year. I figured it would be easier to have new ones sent now instead of having to find a place to get them shipped when I’m back on the road. Except for Chase and my credit union it was easy enough. It seems that Chase has no way to send cards early. My credit union charged me $15 to have a new debit and credit card sent early.

A friend of mine that I’d met while taking Spanish classes in Mexico happens to be taking classes at the University in Tampa so we met up in Orlando for a day at Hollywood Studios. Not sure how she was able to talk me into 2 rides in a row on the Tower of Terror but we had a great time. Then it was out to dinner for all-you-can eat lobster. Yum.

Lot’s of new toys to play with when I get back on the bike. My new tent arrived and I set it up in the living room to check it out. Looks pretty sweet. Can’t wait to see how it does. I was a bit worried about the color but the fly is green which should keep me well hidden. I also have a new laptop (ASUS Eee PC 1015PEM). Windows 7 Starter has to be about the worst operating system I’ve ever used though. Upgraded to Ultimate and have been a bit happier with that. It sure is nice having a 250GB drive instead of a 12GB drive. The touchpad is horrible so I picked up a new wireless mouse.

My favorite new gizmo is a fancy new Wi-Fi adapter that claims to be able to see hotspots from as far away as 1.2 miles. Not sure how true that is but the 15″ +9 dBi antenna certainly boosts the signal strength (it also comes with a 4″ + 5dBi antenna). Finding something to store the longer antenna in took some thought but I went over to Home Depot and bought a short section of PVC that should keep it safe. Lot’s more new things but I’ll cover everything on the new equipment page I’m working on.

This was completely unplanned but I decided to get a new camera. I’m the proud new owner of a Canon Rebel T3i (EOS 600D). I have a little buyers remorse but the thought of being able to get decent pictures again is helping to curb the guilty feelings I have. For a lens I went with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. I also bought a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8. Not sure how much I needed the 50mm but I’ve always wanted to try it. It’s arguably the best lens you can get for the money and it weighs practically nothing so why not. It’s not really for landscapes but it’ll be prefect for walking around cities/towns.

My flight back to Peru leaves this Wednesday.