The two-wheeled astronaut will be turning 40 this year, and I’m leaning toward a long trip to celebrate. But where to go? I’m a big fan of the HBO show Deadwood and thought about taking a 12-day loop trip there (Deadwood, South Dakota) and back. Or perhaps jaunting down Highway 101 to San Francisco and adding a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to my trip repertoir. What about heading north into Canada?

The possibilities are limited only by time and distance. I get a lot of vacation where I work but because I work in IT it’s not feasible to be gone for too long at one time. I think 10 days has been my max so far. If I wanted to be gone longer than that I’d have to make arrangements to get tech support duties covered in my absence. I’ve also thought about the idea of taking my camping gear to alternate between motels and campgrounds every other night to reduce expenses.

In the meantime I spend many hours in Google Maps planning out various trip scenarios, imagining all that glorious time on two wheels, seeing parts of the country I’ve never visited before.