Coast to Coast (and back?) with an Italian Supermodel

[xrcris]

Amazing RR. Not only are you taking a hard-core racebike with lights cross-country, you're taking it off-roading as well

Pain is weakness leaving the body - you can do whatever you want, if you set your mind to it.

Keep on keepin' on.

[Blader54]

Yo, Anti-Hero....Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are!! And thanks for the wonderful RR. It's a bright spot in my day when I see a new post from you. Cheers!

[AntiHero]

Happy T-Day everyone.....looks like it's 1 am, though, so I guess Thanksgiving is over.

Been an unusual spell for me. Still alive, still well. Lots of ideas and internal debate, but little resolution. Also been without the Panigale for a week or so. More to come.

[HELLAS35]

SUPER MACHINA : Raabia

[slomo510]

They still dont have it fixed? jeebus.... Give me a shout if you need anything Dennis
-Richard

[3B43]

Did I miss it breaking down? Since I just bought a Duc (not a 1199), I'm interested in what happened, since the model I bought is having some 'issues'. Also very interested in your comments/opinions/eval on the 1199.

Keep ur chin up!

[dan690]

Originally Posted by marshy19

Anti,
Incredible thread. Just wanted you to know that your (and other inmates) story inspired me to say "Fuck it". I just bought a KTM 690 in San Francisco and am riding it back to Atlanta, Georgia. I flew in yesterday and am about to hit Highway 1 South once the sun comes up!

Hey Marshy,

If you are headed south, stop in and visit "Seat Concepts" . They are in San Jacinto, CA which is close to Hemet. They will fix you up with a real seat for a good price. I have a 690 and the stock seat was BRUTAL----like a 2x4 on edge with vinyl !

Good Luck and send some pictures.

[AntiHero]

Bike update: the bike went in for a chain adjustment and the map update. I also needed them to tighten the exhaust shields, but they ended up having to replace the whole system (fine by me, the new one doesn't look like the hell I put the old one through). I could have picked up the bike much sooner, but I walked everywhere in NOLA and parking was $34 a day. The dealer was nice enough to let me 'store' my bike at their shop, which saved me $$$ and kept it from being stolen or knocked over by a car on the streets.

Thanks, Transportation Revolution!!!!

As for reliability--the Panigale has been the most reliable bike I've owned so far (1 Kawi, 2 Yamahas, 1 Triumph). Ducati is making some amazing stuff.

[AntiHero]

There's construction going on on every block in one place or another--makes walking an exercise in traffic avoidance and ruins pics....

[Dooga]

So bummed to have caught up with your story-telling. Now I must wait.

[AntiHero]

New Orleans is a bit of a 7-Sin sort of place, with one sin glorified perhaps more than any other: gluttony (of which sloth is merely a byproduct). There are very few ‘big’ cities in the world that offer more culinary pleasure than NOLA. And unlike the compartmentalized and varied cuisine found in places like SF, NY or LA, New Orleans is all about Cajun and Creole cookin’, which tend to blend together seamlessly in most of the restaurants here.

Cajun cooking is more of the ‘everyman’s’ cuisine of the two. Whereas Creole cooking is heavily influenced by traditional French food that had been adapted to the local ingredients of Southern Louisiana, Cajun cooking is more of a “if it growls, flies, swims or grows, it goes in the pot” kind of food.

Most New Orleans restaurants offer dishes that fuse the two, resulting in cuisine that’s both rustic and refined, rich and fresh, savory, sweet and—did I mentio--rich? Cayenne, black pepper, bay leaf, parsley are the dominant spices, with very finely diced onion, celery and carrot forming the base of the sauces (along with roux (flour browned in fat). Seafood is the dominant meat (it is on the Coast), but pig and beef make strong appearances. Unless you make it at home, you’re not going to get the tastes of Southern Louisiana unless you come here.
Enough of the intro….on with the tasting menu.

Cafe Amelie's Shrimp and Grits:


Turtle Soup and BBQ'd Prawns (which aren't BBQ'd at all--if you've never had this dish you will not die happy):


The second best fried chicken I've had, along with Redfish Meuniere and Jambalaya Richard Sullivan (slomo510) and I had at Coop's Place:


Fried Pork Skin at SoBou:


Crispy chicken confit, glazed with a crystal hot sauce and sweet soy glaze:


Errr, forgot what this is:


BBQ Prawns (again) at Emeril's NOLA:

[AntiHero]

Pecan crusted Redfish at I Forgot Where:


Stuffed Chicken Wings (a Vietnamese Influence) at NOLA:


Jambalaya at K-Paul's (Chef Paul Prudhomme invented the Blackened technique):


Turducken (chicken and duck stuffed into a turkey, with dressing and gravy):


Filets with Debrib beef at K-Paul's:


Glazed Salmon with Prawns at K-Pauls:

[AntiHero]

I was recently asked a question about focus by a member of the motorcycling community who invited me into his home. The question was whether or not I thought someone should focus on the present or the future. While answering the question I realized I think quite differently about the two, so I thought I’d share. I think of both the present and the future as one. Oh I understand how they appear different in everyday life, but that’s an illusion, a nice way to mentally compartmentalize two expressions of the same thing and thinking about the future is the deception. It’s the future is happening right now all around us: today is the future of us a year ago or 5 or 30 years ago; (and more importantly) tomorrow is the future that’s forming based on what we’re doing right now.

In a lot of ways, separating the two makes the present more pleasurable. The prison population is filled with the results of this sort of ‘immune to the consequences of the future’ type of thought. But the greater population also suffers from separating the two. Think about all of the food pics above and what would happen to my budget for pants on this trip if I ate like that all the time!

Part of the problem is that the future is so far away and the mechanisms, requirements, efforts and actions required to arrive at a future that’s better than the present is difficult, challenging and unpleasant. Losing weight is a great example of why people continue to add pounds every year: exercise is tedious and difficult, but good food and laziness pays off right now.

But there are very few things worthwhile that don’t involve effort. I’ll admit that I’m more tolerant of suffering than the average person, but I think a lot of my own discipline is a result of what I’ll conveniently call my general technique of accomplishing everything.

The first step involves eliminating aversion from the mental thought process involved in deciding upon goals. I hate to sound evangelical, but if you’re serious about changing your life in a positive way stop reading this right now. Go and grab a pencil and paper (Microsoft Word won’t do—has to be a writing instrument and paper). When you’ve done that, come back.

Now imagine you have $5 and can spend it any way you want on accomplishments. These can be occupational/financial, social (girlfriend, kids, husband, etc.), educational, artistic/musical or physical. I recommend spending one dollar per category, but you don’t have to. Write down as many things you want (GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP AND GO GET A PEN!) and narrow it down to the five most bad ass things you would wish for yourself. Black Belt? Rock Star in a band? Become a millionaire? Run a marathon? Have giant muscles? Find someone who loves you? Know how to draw comic book figures? Race motorcycles? Be an Actor? Take some time on this exercise. It’s $1 per item and you can only pick 5. Don’t let any disabilities or bad past experiences get in the way. The idea behind this exercise is that we’re talking a perfect ‘wishes-come-true-world’.

Once those $5 are spent the wish-fulfillment continues. Now you get to pick 2 experiences you’d like to have. This could be a cross country trip on a Ducati—or a 2 week trip to Egypt or Africa or Hawaii—(or it could be as simple as doing two chicks at the same time, Lawrence). Perhaps you’d like to know what it feels like to catch a snake or survive in the wild for a week alone. Write these two things down, too.

Alright I’m going to stop here. Work on those seven items above. I’ll be back.

[KiloBravo]

The AntiHero Law of Attraction? I'm in.

[SGrider]

No fresh Catfish? I have to have catfish whenever I go to Louisiana.