Monday, October 18, 2021

Back on the road with E-Cells Super Monarch 1500 AWD… A dream come true.

 So far we have traveled about 300 miles and as of the reading of 10/19/21 we will be in New Mexico.  We are staying at a hostel today and I am looking forward to saving a few bucks:-), and still having my needs met.  I am not opposed to camping, but would be great if I didn’t have to:-).  At any rate, we are having a great time.  I left Scottsdale on 10/15 and so far the bike has met all my expectations.  I twist the throttle it goes, I pedal assist it moves…. It has made the trip much more enjoyable than in 2012, although I am still doing a lot of work:-), and pulling the trailer is not a lot of fun.  I don’t know another way though, and still having everything I would need to repair and fix on the go.  The gears are working great, the motors seem to be able to handle the work, and the dual motor action is something really spectacular.  I would like to see a little bit better range, but we are still in mountain region and therefore getting 75-90 miles is a good accomplishment, in pedal assist 4 all day.  I have stopped for lunch on two of the three days and charged for about an hour.  On Sunday I did this and really shouldn’t have.  Because of that stop I ended up with about 50 stickers in my trailer tires and about 20 in my bike tires.  The bike tires have the Tannus Liner so that is great.  But both my trailer tires went flat and required me to change them, before proceeding on to the hotel.  I didn’t need to charge and should not have stopped at that rest area.  I had a check in my spirit about it, but I did it anyway and paid a heavy price.  Nevertheless, for fun I decided since I had so much charge left I throttled the last ten miles to the hotel going about 20 something miles an hour.  That is spectacular when you consider I am pulling a trailer behind me that weighs at least 100 pounds.  SO GREAT!!!  Thank you Ecells.com for the great experience.  I highly recommend you get one as soon as possible call David Cleveland today and tell him Christopher sent you.  








Today we begin again:-) Scottsdale to Houston, TX

    Well, the last 8 months have been very interesting to say the least.  I took the job with MSC as an Ordinary Seaman, and started traveling after training on my first ship.  This venture lasted from May 26-October 3, 2021.  I got off the ship (the USNS Robert E. Peary) in Rota, Spain and headed home.  It has taken a week to get home due to the circumstances of how I left the USA back in July on the vessel.  I had to leave my car in Norfolk, after bringing it back to there after a small break I took in late June 2021 to see my boat, and family.  After leaving in February I hadn’t laid eyes on my boat since rushing out right before the freeze that shook Houston Valentines weekend.  As is the normal for these adventures, I took too much stuff onboard the ship and when I found out I was being relieved, I had to ship two boxes of belongings back to the USA.  Thankfully Rota has a US Navy Base and therefore a US Post Office, so shipping was relatively painless.

    The journey was  quite extraordinary.  I caught the ship as it was finishing dry docking in Philadelphia and therefore had a great time exploring some of Philly, having a cheese steak, and just settling in on the boat.  From there we went back to Norfolk, did some sea trials and a couple of us reps out to sea locally, but was for the most part on the Navy Pier, doing shore duty.  We actually crossed the Atlantic on July 23rd and from that crossing visited Scotland twice, France, Spain twice, Norway twice, and did unreps along the way.  The mission continues, but I was relieved and therefore did not continue on with the vessel.  It was a good experience and I would have been able to stay on the ship if I had not put in for relief.  Relief means that after four months you ask for a replacement for you so you can go home for a month of vacation.  I needed this, and have other desires to fulfill during my off time, such as this journey back to Houston by E-Bike on my E-Cells Super Monarch 1500, to get into AB school, and to get Lasik so I can try out for the SRS (Surface Rescue Swimmer Program).  

   So Here I sit at the Airport here in Houston awaiting my plane to board at 0955 to take me to my bicycle and to visit my loved ones as well as check in with the program of AA.  God has been very good to me and I am eternally grateful for His Love, Mercy, Compassion, and Protection these last seven months.  I fully expect He will continue on this journey and I look forward to seeing how He is going to move on my behalf these next days as we trek back to Houston, and beyond.